Bioaccumulation of Perfluoroalkyl Substances by Daphnia magna in Water with Different Types and Concentrations of Protein

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are sometimes regarded as proteinophilic compounds, however, there is no research report about the effect of environmental protein on the bioaccumulation of PFASs in waters. In the present study we investigated influences of protein on the bioaccumulation of six kinds of PFASs by Daphnia magna in water; it included perfluorooctane sulfonate, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid, perfluorodecanoic acid, perfluoroundecanoic acid, and perfluorododecanoic acid. Two types of protein including bovine albumin from animal and soy peptone from plant were compared and the effects of protein concentration were investigated. Both types of protein at high concentrations (10 and 20 mg L–1) suppressed the bioaccumulation of PFASs. When protein concentration increased from 0 to 20 mg L–1, the decreasing ratios of the PFAS body burden (35.3–52.9%) in Daphnia magna induced by bovine albumin were significantly higher than those (22.0–36.6%) by soy peptone. The dialysis bag experiment results showed that the binding of PFASs to protein followed the Freundlich isotherm, suggesting it is not a linear partitioning process but an adsorption-like process. The partition coefficients of PFASs between bovine albumin and water were higher compared to soy peptone; this resulted in higher reducing rates of freely dissolved concentrations of PFASs with increasing bovine albumin concentration, leading to a stronger suppression of PFAS bioaccumulation. However, the presence of both types of protein with a low concentration (1 mg L–1) enhanced the bioaccumulation of PFASs. Furthermore, the water-based bioaccumulation factor based on the freely dissolved concentrations of PFASs even increased with and the depuration rate constants of PFASs from Daphnia magna decreased with protein concentration, suggesting that protein would not only reduce the bioavailable concentrations and uptake rates of PFASs but also lower the elimination rates of PFASs in Daphnia magna. Because these two opposite effects would change with different protein concentrations in water, the net effect of protein on PFAS bioaccumulation would also vary with protein concentration.