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Acute Exposure to Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) During Cardiomyogenesis disrupts Transcriptional and Electrophysiological Profiles in Differentiated Myocytes

Tomoko Ishikawa, Christopher Wayne Clark, Anagha Tapaswi, Kimberley E. Sala-Hamrick and 7 more

Toxicological Sciences | Aug 22, 2026

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract Exposure to per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are linked to various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), but effects of developmental PFAS exposures on the human heart remain unclear. Using human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM), the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of PFAS exposure during cardiac differentiation on gene expression and function of cardiomyocytes. We exposed two hiPSC lines (one male and one female donor) to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a common and ubiquitous PFAS (0.05, 0.5, 5, 50, 100, 150, 200 μM), followed by assessment of cellular number and pluripotency marker expression. PFOA exposure for 72 hours had no significant effects on hiPSC pluripotency, and modest inhibition of proliferation was observed only at the highest concentration. hiPSCs were then differentiated into ventricular cardiomyocytes in the continued presence or absence of PFOA using an established protocol. Optical mapping studies revealed dose and cell line-specific effects of PFOA on cardiomyocyte voltage and calcium dynamics that were still present 10 days after cessation of exposure. Patch clamping studies demonstrated small but significant reductions in repolarizing IKr currents with 5µM PFOA exposure in cardiomyocytes from both donors. Using RNA-seq, we found that exposure to PFOA led to significant changes in transcriptional pathways related to lipids and lipoproteins in the female hiPSC-CM, and developmental pathways and calcium homeostasis in the male hiPSC-CM. These findings provide direct experimental evidence that transient developmental exposure to PFOA can durably reprogram human cardiomyocyte gene expression and function, supporting a developmental origin of PFAS-associated cardiovascular disease risk.

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Authors

Researchers on this paper

Tomoko Ishikawa

first | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0002-3525-9704

Christopher Wayne Clark

middle | University of Michigan

Anagha Tapaswi

middle | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0001-5051-8623

Kimberley E. Sala-Hamrick

middle | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0002-8870-5296

Todd J. Herron

middle | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0002-2788-7479

Leonard Goldberg

middle | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0001-5134-491X

Abhilasha Jain

middle | University of Michigan

D.R.T. Jones

middle | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0002-7825-4997

Justin Colacino

middle | University of Michigan

André Monteiro da Rocha

middle | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0003-3324-3773

Laurie K. Svoboda

last | University of Michigan | ORCID 0000-0002-0003-4513

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Citation

BibTeX

@article{Ishikawa2026Acute,
  title = {Acute Exposure to Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) During Cardiomyogenesis disrupts Transcriptional and Electrophysiological Profiles in Differentiated Myocytes},
  author = {Tomoko Ishikawa and Christopher Wayne Clark and Anagha Tapaswi and Kimberley E. Sala-Hamrick and Todd J. Herron and Leonard Goldberg and Abhilasha Jain and D.R.T. Jones and Justin Colacino and André Monteiro da Rocha and Laurie K. Svoboda},
  journal = {Toxicological Sciences},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.64898/2026.05.05.723050},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfag107}
}

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