Mode of action
Liver Toxicity
Several studies show that PFOS interferes with fatty acid metabolism and metabolism of
lipids and lipoproteins. The link to the liver toxicity that is observed in rodents and monkeys
is not well understood.
PFOS has been shown to activate the PPARα in in vitro experiments. (Sohlenius and
Eriksson, 1993; van den Heuvel et al., 2006). Studies in COS-1 cells confirmed this finding
for the mouse and human PPARα (Shipley et al., 2004).Takacs and Abbott (2007) reported
that PFOS was less active than PFOA for both mouse and human PPARα and PPARβ, but
neither substance showed significant activation of mouse or human PPAR