# Paternal and Maternal Perfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure and Offspring health

> **NIH NIH R03** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $83,750

## Abstract

Project Summary
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made persistent chemicals, which have been
widely applied in commercial products since the 1950s. Commonly applied PFAS are extremely persistent and
human exposure to PFAS are ubiquitous. Animal studies have provided compelling data that PFAS are
endocrine disruptors and can induce strong developmental toxicity. An increasing number of population-based
studies have indicated maternal and fetal exposure to PFAS was associated with impaired fetal growth. One
area of PFAS research that has been largely overlooked is the possible adverse effect of paternal exposure to
PFAS on offspring development. Biological plausibility has been suggested in experimental studies that
paternal exposure to PFAS could affect fetal development via mechanisms such as the disruption of
spermiogenesis, increasing damage to sperm DNA, and modifying sperm epigenetic profiles. Some paternal
occupational and demographic factors have been linked to selected neurodevelopmental disorders, but studies
on paternal exposure to environmental toxins are sparse. To address the knowledge gap, a multidisciplinary
team of investigators propose this novel study to determine the impact of paternal and maternal PFAS
exposure on fetal growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes among 588 parent-child pairs enrolled in the
INUENDO birth cohort. INUENDO is a multi-country longitudinal cohort study of parents from Greenland,
Kharkiv (Ukraine) and Warsaw (Poland) enrolled during 2002-2004. The offspring were followed up to 9 years
old using standardized data collection procedures across study sites. A panel of environmental contaminants,
including six types of common PFAS, have been measured in both maternal and paternal serum samples
collected during pregnancy. In addition, measures of paternal seminal quality and sperm morphology are also
available in the 588 father-child pairs. Our specific aims are to determine the extent to which paternal and
maternal PFAS exposures are individually and/or jointly associated with (1) fetal growth and birth outcomes,
and (2) child behavioral and motor functions at ages 5 to 9 years. Moreover, we will study whether paternal
semen quality mediates or modifies the possible paternal PFAS effects on these child health outcomes.
Innovations of this project include leveraging the INUENDO cohort to create a unique opportunity to study the
effects of PFAS exposure on child development in both parents, and to use novel statistical approaches to
incorporate semen quality measures in analyses. Findings from this study will advance scientific knowledge of
paternal PFAS exposure toxicity and offspring development. This project will provide critical data to evaluate a
broader range of offspring health associated with environmental exposures in both parents, and the utilization
of complex genetic/epigenetic and metabolomics approaches to understand exposure-disease mechanisms.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10492003
- **Project number:** 5R03ES033381-02
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Zeyan Liew
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $83,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-21 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10492003

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10492003, Paternal and Maternal Perfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure and Offspring health (5R03ES033381-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10492003. Licensed CC0.

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