PNNL

Abstract

The toxicokinetics of 2,2,4,4-tetrabromodipohenyl 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 hr with peak levels occurring at 8 hrs. The body levels of PBDE-47 slowly declined and were still 25% of peak levels at 624 hrs 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 values for elimination half-life was determined to be 281 hrs and the first order absorption rate constant was (Ka) = 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