A Proposed Species Difference in the Renal Excretion of Perfluoro Octanoic Acid in the Beagle Dog and Rat

Abstract

Perfluorinated fatty acids has been used as corrosion inhibitors, wetting agents, fire extinguishers and surface active agents (Olsen and Andersen 1983). On the other hand, there is not much information available on their biological effects. Griffith and Long (1980) showed that in a 90-day feeding study male albino ChR-CD rats were more susceptible to the toxicity of perfluoro octanoic acid (PFO, CF₃ (CF₂)₆ COOH) than the females. The organic fluoride concentrations in the pooled serum were also considerably higher in the male than in the female animals. With radio-labelled PFO it was demonstrated that female Holzman rats actively secrete PFO in the kidney (Hanhijärvi et al. 1982). In the male rats only filtration could be demonstrated. From the data presented by Ophang and Singer (1980) it can be calculated that the plasma half life for PFO in the female Holzman rats is roughly 10 h. This far the plasma half life of PFO for the male rats has not been calculated. Indirectly it has been suggested that the plasma half life probably is longer than 7 days, because steady state could be reached only in the females by this time during a subchronic feeding study (Hanhijärvi et al. 1987).