Developmental exposure to perfluorooctanoic sulfonate(PFOS) impairs the endometrial receptivity

Perfluorooctanoic sulfonate (PFOS) is difficult to degrade and tends to accumulate in the body, which causes widespread concern. The expression of genes related to endometrial receptivity and the differentiation of human endometrial stromal cells (hESCs) were assessed in this study concerning PFOS. In this study, we investigated the effect of PFOS exposure on endometrial tolerance by cell and animal experiments. The activity against endometrial mesenchymal cells was significantly reduced by PFOS intervention, and the apoptosis flow assay results showed that PFOS significantly promoted cell death in a concentration-dependent manner. Transmission electron microscopy results revealed mitochondrial damage in the PFOS-intervened group, and WB results showed that the expression levels of endometrial tolerance-related proteins Homeobox A10 (HOXA10) and integrin beta3 (ITGB3) were decreased, and the expression level of Forkhead box O1 (FOXO1) protein was increased. Animal studies have shown that PFOS can affect the locomotor cycle in mice, and significant damage to pinopodes morphology was observed after PFOS exposure administration. In the present study, we found that PFOS may synergistically affect the viability of endometrial mesenchymal stromal cells through accumulation in vivo, and that PFOS may contribute to the failure of embryo implantation by affecting mitochondrial function and consequently endometrial permissive sites. Overall design: Few studies have evaluated the effect of PFOS on endometrial stromal cells in vitro, despite reports of its effects on the reproductive system. The process of PFOS interference with endometrial decidualization, which forms the substrate for embryo implantation, must be further investigated. Therefore, To enhance our understanding of the mechanisms of endometrial regulation after PFOS exposure, our study aimed to assess whether any associations exist between the following: (1) PFOS exposure and endometrial receptivity indexes; (2) PFOS concentrations and pinopodes morphology.