Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) have been used widely in consumer products manufacture. Recent in vitro as well as animal studies have found that there are different toxicity and pharmacokinetic profiles between isomers of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and/or perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). However, the differential effects of linear or branched PFOA/PFOS isomers on human beings have never been reported. Herein, we examined 1871 adult subjects (age older than 18 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013–2014 to determine the association between the isomers of PFOA/PFOS and serum biochemistry profiles, including glucose, lipids, protein and components of metabolic syndrome (MS). The results showed that for PFOA, increased linear PFOA was associated with increases in total cholesterol, serum albumin and an enhancement of β cell function as well as a decrease in the serum globulin. Increased branched PFOA was significantly associated with increased fasting glucose. All isomers of PFOA were positively associated with high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and negatively associated with glycohemoglobin (HbA1C). The branched PFOS was positively associated with β cell function and inversely associated with serum globulin. Both linear and branched isomers of PFOS were positively associated with the total protein and albumin. The increased branched PFOA was associated with less HDL-C insufficiency defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Third Adult Treatment Panel (NCEP-ATP III) MS criteria, whereas the increased concentrations of serum total and linear PFOS were associated with less hypertriglyceridemia by the NCEP-ATP III. In conclusion, serum isomers of PFOA and PFOS were associated with glucose homeostasis, serum protein as well as lipid profiles; they were also indicators of MS. This may suggest that there is a distinct difference in the toxicokinetics of the isomers of PFOA and PFOS. Further clinical and animal studies are warranted to clarify the putative causal relationships between isomers and biochemical alterations.

全氟化学品（PFC）已广泛用于消费品制造中。最近的体外以及动物研究发现，全氟辛酸（PFOA）和/或全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOS）异构体之间有不同的毒性和药代动力学特征。然而，从未报道线性或支链PFOA / PFOS异构体对人类的不同作用。本文中，我们调查了2013-2014年美国国家健康与营养调查（NHANES）中的1871名成年受试者（年龄在18岁以上），以确定PFOA / PFOS的异构体与血清生化特征之间的关联，包括葡萄糖，脂质，蛋白质和代谢综合征（MS）的成分。结果表明，对于PFOA，线性PFOA的增加与总胆固醇，血清白蛋白的增加和β细胞功能的增强以及血清球蛋白的降低有关。分支PFOA的增加与空腹血糖的增加显着相关。PFOA的所有异构体均与高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）正相关，而与糖化血红蛋白（HbA1C）负相关。支链全氟辛烷磺酸与β细胞功能呈正相关，与血清球蛋白呈负相关。PFOS的线性和支链异构体均与总蛋白和白蛋白呈正相关。全国胆固醇教育计划第三次成人治疗小组（NCEP-ATP III）MS标准定义的分支PFOA增加与HDL-C功能不足相关，而NCEP降低了血清总和线性PFOS的浓度与较少的高甘油三酯血症相关-ATP III。总之，PFOA和PFOS的血清异构体与葡萄糖稳态有关，血清蛋白以及脂质谱；它们也是MS的指标。这可能表明PFOA和PFOS异构体的毒代动力学存在明显差异。有必要进行进一步的临床和动物研究，以阐明异构体与生化改变之间的假定因果关系。