Non-target Identification And Health Risks Of Novel PFASs Pollutants In Mothers And Neonates

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances（PFASs）are a class of man-made organic pollutants.With the phase-out of long-chain PFASs,international manufacturers have gradually used short-chain and novel PFASs as substitutes for production and application.Due to the persistence of short-chain and novel PFASs in the environment and their long-term wide applications,they have been detected in both water and human bodies.Among them,short-chain PFASs are mainly quantified by the targeted analysis,however,the environmental fate and toxicity of novel PFASs are uncertain,which has endangered the environment and human health.Therefore,the identification of novel PFASs in human serum and tissue would be an important problem to be solved.Compared with other methods,the non-targeted analysis has significant advantages and potentials in identifying novel PFASs.In this study,targeted and non-targeted analysis methods were used to determine the concentrations of legacy and novel PFASs in 50 paired samples of maternal serum,placenta tissue and neonatal serum around Fuxin Fluorochemical Industrial Park,and the statistical analysis was carried on the correlations among neonatal growth parameters,serum hormone levels,and neonatal serum concentrations of legacy and novel PFASs,the conclusions were drawn as follows:Firstly,PFBS,PFOA and PFBA are the main PFASs pollutants in maternal serum,placenta tissue and neonatal serum.Compared to previous study,the median concentrations of PFBS and PFOA in serum of female residents aged 20-40 in Fuxin increased by more than 500-fold and3-fold from 2015 to 2020,respectively.The median concentrations of PFBS,PFOA and PFBA in neonatal serum were reduced by nearly half compared with maternal serum.In addition,the concentrations of 7 PFCAs（PFBA,PFPe A,PFHx A,PFHp A,PFOA,PFNA,and PFDA）in the serum of neonatal girls were significantly higher than those of boys,while the concentration of PFBS in the serum of neonatal boys was significantly higher than that of girls.Secondly,49 novel PFASs were identified in maternal serum,placenta tissue and neonatal serum by non-targeted analysis,which were divided into 11 categories.Four classes novel PFASs（20 kinds） were reported for the first time in human serum and placenta tissue.The coefficients of maternal-neonatal transfer(R_n/m) and maternal-placental transfer(R_p/m)for legacy PFASs were 0.51and 0.67,respectively,while the median R_n/mand R_p/mfor all novel PFASs were 1.1 and 1.3,respectively.In addition,the R_n/mof H-PFCAs showed a"U-shaped"trend.Meanwhile,the relevant information of non-targeted analysis was used to speculate the biotransformation pathways of legacy PFSAs and PFCAs during placental transfer.Finally,according to the linear regression analysis,we preliminarily revealed potential correlations among neonatal growth parameters,serum hormone levels,and neonatal serum concentrations of legacy and novel PFASs,suggesting that the contaminations of legacy and novel PFASs in neonatal serum may pose certain risks to neonatal health.The present study indicated that non-targeted analysis could be an efficient method to identify novel PFASs in maternal serum,placenta tissue,and neonatal serum,This would provide important scientific basis and data support for the future study of human exposure to novel PFASs in China.