Analyses of PFAS precursors and TOF in serum from individuals with a high PFAS-exposure living in Ronneby

Human blood is an important matrix to assess human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substance (PFASs), as these compounds have been shown to preferentially accumulate in protein-rich sites such as blood and liver. A number of PFAS biomonitoring studies used blood (whole blood, serum, or plasma) as sample matrices. Recent studies used the concept of mass balance analysis of fluorine by comparing the levels of quantifiable (known) PFASs quantified through liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and the levels of total extractable organofluorine (EOF) measured via combustion ion chromatography (CIC); or in other words, how much unknown PFASs was in the sample. More unidentified PFAS were reported yearly in human blood and in sewage samples. These unidentified PFASs might be those unrecognized intermediates, ultrashort- chain PFAS compounds (compounds having 2 to 3 perfluorinated chain length), and/or novel PFAS alternatives. Our on-going project has been working on human blood samples for EOF, classic PFASs, and some identified PFAS alternatives in order to assess current status of human exposure to PFAS. These samples were collected from Göteborg, Linköping, Lund, Stockholm, Umeå, and Uppsala representing some “background” concentrations.

In the project, we propose to analyze blood samples collected from individuals with a known “high” exposure of PFAS in living in Ronneby, as to compare with the distribution and levels of EOF and PFAS in their blood samples.