Comparison of developmental toxicity of seven perfluoroalkyl acids to zebrafish embryos

The toxicity of individual perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) has been suggested to be determined by the carbon chain length as well as the functional group attached. We tested seven different PFAAs including both sulfonic and carboxylic PFAAs with different chain length to evaluate the developmental toxicity in zebrafish embryos. Generally, the acute toxicity of PFAAs is relatively low to zebrafish embryos. The EC50 values ranged from 1.5 to 2200 mg/L. We observed a relationship between higher toxicity with longer carbon chain. In addition, we also observed a higher toxicity for sulfonic PFAAs than for carboxylic PFAAs.