Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are synthetic organobromide compounds which inhibit ignition and combustion processes. Because of their immense ability to retard fire and save life and property, they have been extensively used in many products such as TVs, computers, foam, plastics etc. The five major classes of BFRs are tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), pentabromodiphenyl ether, octabromodiphenyl ether, and decabromodiphenyl ether. The last three are also commonly called PBDEs. BDE-85 and BDE-209 are the two prominent congeners of PBDEs and this study reports the adverse effects of these congeners in rodents. Exposure of rat sciatic nerves to 5 μg/mL and 20 μg/mL of BDE-85 and BDE-209 respectively lead to significant, concentration dependent reduction in nerve conduction function. Glucose absorption in the rat intestinal segments exposed to 5 μg/mL of BDE-85 and BDE-209 was significantly reduced for both the compounds tested. Lastly, mice when exposed to 0.25 mg/kg body weight for four days showed a disruption in oxidant and antioxidant equilibrium. The tissues namely liver and brain have shown increase in the levels of lipid hydroperoxides indicating oxidative stress. Moreover, all the protective enzymes namely superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase, and glutathione S transferase (GST) have shown tissue specific alterations indicating the induction of damaging oxidative stress and setting in of lipid peroxidation in exposed animals. The results indicate monitoring of PBDEs in the environment is essential because levels as low as 5 μg/mL and 0.25 mg/kg body weight were able to cause damage to the functions of rodents.

Date Published: 16 May 2011
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8029, Sensing Technologies for Global Health, Military Medicine, Disaster Response, and Environmental Monitoring; and Biometric Technology for Human Identification VIII, 80291J (16 May 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.887127

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8029:
Sensing Technologies for Global Health, Military Medicine, Disaster Response, and Environmental Monitoring; and Biometric Technology for Human Identification VIII
B. V. K. Vijaya Kumar; Sárka O. Southern; Kevin N. Montgomery; Salil Prabhakar; Arun A. Ross; Carl W. Taylor; Bernhard H. Weigl, Editor(s)