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Chronic Exposure to Perfluorooctane Sulfonate Reduces Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans Through Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling

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Abstract

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is a persistent organic pollutant. Although multiple adverse effects of PFOS have been demonstrated, whether PFOS can accelerate aging and affect animal longevity remains unknown. In Caenorhabditis elegans, we found that a 50 h exposure to 0.2–200 µM PFOS reduced lifespan in a concentration dependent manner. In transgenic nematodes, lifespans are affected by mutations of daf-16, daf-2 or age-1 genes, which are related to the Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling pathway (IIS). PFOS exposure caused an additional reduction in average lifespan in daf-2(e1370) and daf-16b(KO) nematodes. In contrast, daf-16(mu86) nematodes showed no additional reduction with PFOS exposure and age-1(hx546) mutants did not exhibit a reduction in lifespan with PFOS exposure, compared with wildtype nematodes. Overall, our findings demonstrate that PFOS exposure accelerates aging and shortens longevity of animals. The PFOS-induced effect may involve genes of the IIS pathway, particularly daf-16 and age-1.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National Science and Technology Major Project of China (No. 2013ZX07310-001-04) and a grant from the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 16ZR1409300) for Defu He. Thanks for Caenorhabditis Genetics Center contributing transgenic strains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab of Toxicology, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, 500# DongChuang RD, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Tiantian Xu, Ping Li, Siyu Wu, Dan Li, Jingxuan Wu & Defu He

  2. Department of Biology, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 12604, USA

    Kathleen M. Raley-Susman

Authors
  1. Tiantian Xu
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  2. Ping Li
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  3. Siyu Wu
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  4. Dan Li
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  5. Jingxuan Wu
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  6. Kathleen M. Raley-Susman
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  7. Defu He
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Correspondence to Defu He.

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Xu, T., Li, P., Wu, S. et al. Chronic Exposure to Perfluorooctane Sulfonate Reduces Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans Through Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 97, 119–123 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-016-1808-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-016-1808-5

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