Oral Exposure of PBDE-47 in Fish:  Toxicokinetics and Reproductive Effects in Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) and Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas)

• Published in: Environmental science & technology 2006-01, Vol.40 (2), p.523-528
• Main Authors: Muirhead, Elisabeth K, Skillman, Ann D, Hook, Sharon E, Schultz, Irvin R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABSORPTION; Administration, Oral; Agnatha. Pisces; Animal reproduction; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; ARTEMIA; Artemia, spawning, endocrine disruption, histology; Biological and medical sciences; BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS; BREEDING; Butter; Cyprinidae; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates; ETHERS; FATHEAD MINNOW; Female; FEMALES; Fish; Fresh water environment; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; HALF-LIFE; Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; Hydrocarbons, Brominated - pharmacokinetics; Hydrocarbons, Brominated - toxicity; Male; MALES; Oryzias; Phenyl Ethers - pharmacokinetics; Phenyl Ethers - toxicity; Pollutants; RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGANISMS AND BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS; Reproduction - drug effects; Risk exposure; SPERMATOZOA; TOXICITY
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es0513178

The toxicokinetics of 2,2,4,4-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE-47) was studied in the Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) after a single oral exposure followed by termination at specific time points. The effects of repeated oral exposure to PBDE-47 on reproductive performance was assessed using a pair breeding experimental design with fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) given daily PBDE-47 exposures for 25 days, during which fecundity was measured as an indicator of reproductive performance. Medaka and fathead minnows were orally exposed to PBDE-47 by bioencapsulation in brine shrimp, Artemia sp. In the medaka studies, measurable levels of PBDE-47 were detected in the carcass within 0.25 h with peak levels occurring at 8 h. The body levels of PBDE-47 slowly declined and were still 25% of peak levels at 624 h after dosing. Assimilation of the bioencapsulated dose was at least 80% and may well approach 100%. The PBDE-47 concentration−time profile was fitted to a one-compartment clearance-volume toxicokinetic model and the model-predicted value for elimination half-life was determined to be 281 h and the first-order absorption rate constant was K a = 0.26 hr-1. In the fathead minnow study, egg laying in the PBDE-treated breeding pairs stopped after 10 days. The condition factor of PBDE-treated males was significantly reduced (P