The protective effect of blueberry anthocyanins against perfluorooctanoic acid-induced disturbance in planarian (Dugesia japonica)

•The exposure of planarians to PFOA and anthocyanins led to effects at cellular level.•The toxicity of PFOA on mitochondrial function was assessed.•Anthocyanin exposure provided protective effect against PFOA toxicity.

The influence of blueberry anthocyanins on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)-induced stress response in planarian mitochondria was investigated. PFOA at 15 mg/L and anthocyanins at 10 or 20 mg/L were individually and simultaneously administered to planarians for up to 10 d. The results showed PFOA treatment induced an increase in mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening and a decrease antioxidant capacity and enzyme activities. In anthocyanin treated animals, the activity of succinate dehydrogenase, cytochrome oxidase and monoamine oxidase increased, but mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening decreased and total antioxidant capacity increased. An improvement in above-mentioned physiological and biochemical parameters was found in the combined PFOA and anthocyanin treated animals, in a dose-dependent manner. Anthocyanins attenuated the PFOA induced toxicity; antioxidant capacity and enzyme activities are involved in the protective mechanism of anthocyanins.