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Bioaccumulation and Effects of Dietary Exposure to the Alternative Flame Retardant, Bis(2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate (TBPH), in the Atlantic killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus.
Citation:
Nacci, D., B. Clark, M. LaGuardia, K. Miller, D. Champlin, I. Kirby, A. Bertrand, AND Saro Jayaraman. Bioaccumulation and Effects of Dietary Exposure to the Alternative Flame Retardant, Bis(2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate (TBPH), in the Atlantic killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, 37(9):2350-2360, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.4180
Impact/Purpose:
This manuscript describes an experimental study that contributes to our understanding of the ecological risks associated with exposure to alternative flame retardant chemicals. This broad category of chemicals replaces legacy brominated flame retardant compounds, which were withdrawn from US markets due to environmental and human health concerns; yet the risks associated with these alternative chemicals are not currently well-known. The manuscript focuses on one specific high production, Agency high priority compound, providing background information on environmental occurrence, toxic mechanisms and effects reported in the scientific literature. This information provides context for the experimental results that describe the extent to which the compound was taken up by fish (bioaccumulated) and how fish were adversely affected by this contamination. General impacts from this contribution include improved understanding by managers and scientists of links between human activities, natural dynamics, ecological stressors and ecosystem condition.
Description:
Bis(2‐ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate (TBPH), a high production volume flame retardant (FR) chemical used as a replacement for banned FRs, has been detected in media and human and wildlife tissues globally. Here we describe bioaccumulation and biological effects from dietary exposure of TBPH to an estuarine fish, Atlantic killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus. Briefly, adult fish were fed carrier control‐ or chemically‐amended diets for 28 d, followed by 14 d control diet feeding. Diets were amended with TBPH (TBPH_LO diet, 139 µg/g dry weight, dw, or TBPH_HI diet, 4360 µg/g dw) or a polychlorinated biphenyl congener (PCB153 diet, 13 µg/g dw), which was included as a positive control for bioaccumulation. While bioaccumulation of either chemical correlated with fish size, only a small proportion of TBPH offered, i.e., <0.5% total TBPH, was bioaccumulated into TBPH‐treated fish by 28 d. In contrast, 24.5% of the PCB153 offered was accounted for in 28 d PCB‐treated fish. Although 28 d bioaccumulated concentrations of TBPH differed by sex and treatment, sexes did not differ in their rates of TBPH bioaccumulation, and the time to achieve 50% of 28 d concentration (T1/2) was estimated as 13 days. Depuration rates of TBPH did not differ by sex or treatment, and the time after exposure to achieve T1/2 was estimated as 22 days. Independent of treatment, male fish grew faster than female fish, but for both sexes reproductive condition (gonadal somatic index) declined unexpectedly over the experimental period. Across treatments, only TBPH_LO treatment affected growth, reducing male but increasing female growth rates by small amounts relative to respective controls. In summary, our study used very high concentrations of dietary TBPH to contaminate fish tissues above the highest levels reported to date in wild biota, yet we observed few adverse biological effects.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Bioaccumulation and Effects of Dietary Exposure to the Alternative Flame Retardant, Bis(2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromophthalate (TBPH), in the Atlantic killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus.