Fig. 4.

Serum PFOA concentrations in dams and female offspring from the early-life effects cross-foster study (offspring from the late-life effects study also shown on right for comparison; reported in [14]). Data are shown as mean ± S.E.M. bars; numerical values are shown for non-zero controls, and for control dams nursing treated pups at PND 1. (A) Among the dams, direct treatment with PFOA consistently yielded higher serum level than nursing treated pups (5U) alone. (B) Among offspring, lactationally exposed females (5L) exhibited serum concentrations that increased until PND 10, when they converged upon concentrations observed in the intrauterine (5U) and combined exposure (5U + L) groups. At PND 1, treated pups (5U, 5U + L) exhibited higher serum PFOA concentrations than treated dams (nursed 5L, 5U + L pups). By PND 10 all exposed offspring groups were becoming similar to one another in serum concentrations, and were becoming increasingly similar in serum concentrations to their paired dams. In the late-life effects study (right), by PND 63 serum from female offspring in all treatment groups were near background levels, at less than 1000 ng/ml. Statistical comparisons are provided in the text.