Blood PBDEs

Takasuga T, Senthilkumar K, Takemori H, Ohi E, Tsuji H, Nagayama J (2004) Impact of fermented brown rice with Aspergillus oryzae (FEBRA) intake and concentrations of polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) in blood of humans from Japan. Chemosphere 57 795-811... 

Concentrations (in ng/g Lipid Weight) of Several PBDEs in Human Blood Samples... 

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers. Information regarding the immunosuppressive potential of PBDE mixtures is essentially limited to evidence from acute-duration oral studies in animals exposed to relatively high doses of pentaBDE. The plaque-forming splenic cell antibody response to injected sheep red blood cells was significantly reduced in mice exposed to 72 mg/kg/day pentaBDE for 14 days (Fowles et al. 

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers. The mechanism by which PBDEs enter the blood stream is not known, there are no established methods for reducing body burden of PBDEs, and the mechanisms of toxic action of PBDEs are incompletely understood. Types of studies that could address these data gaps and possibly provide information on reducing to dc effects of PBDEs are discussed in the preceding subsection on PBBs. 

The quantitative determination of the concentrations of PBDEs in body tissues and fluids is important in determining the human bocfy burden of these chemicals. Increasing levels of PBDEs have been measured in blood and breast milk in temporal trend studies. Individuals A ho consumed fish had a somewhat higher concentration of total PBDEs in body fluids compared to individuals who ate less fish. 

Tables 6-9, 6-10, and 6-11 summarize the concentrations of PBDEs found in blood (serum), adipose tissue, breast milk, and other body tissues or fluids, respectively. No data were located on the levels of PBDEs in body tissues and fluids from individuals living in the United States. However, levels of PBDEs in body tissues and fluids from individuals living in the United States are expected to be similar to individuals from other regions of the world.

Methods for the detemination of organobromine compounds such as PBBs and PBDEs generally consist of the following steps extraction of the analyte from the sample matrix clean-up to remove interfering compounds and analysis (separation and quantitation). The primary method of analysis is GC coupled with ECD or MS. Analytical methods have been developed for the determination of PBBs and PBDEs in blood or serum, urine, feces, adipose tissue, liver, and breast milk. The methods for determining PBB and PBDE residues in biological samples are given in Tables 7-1 and 7-2, respectively. 

Damerud PO, Sinjari T. 1996. Effects of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PCBs) on thyroxine and TSH blood levels in rats and mice. Organohalogen Compounds 29 316-319. 

In the fish samples presented in Table 6, the congener patterns are dominated by BDE-47 (at an average of 52 13% of the total PBDE concentration) followed by BDE-99, -100, -153, and -154. This congener pattern is more or less constant in these fish samples as it is for almost all environmental samples (including humans). Figure 7 shows the PBDE congener pattern for the penta-BDE product, for human blood and tissue samples, and for Great Lakes fishes. The penta-BDE product is dominated by BDE-47 and BDE-99 in this... 

New York Developing capacity to monitor for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urine, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in serum, organochlorine pesticides in serum, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in blood, cotinine in saliva, trace elements in blood and urine, inorganic mercury in blood and to generate data on exposure to persistent organic pollutants (CDC 2005). 

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services is determining blood mercury concentrations and related freshwater fish consumption, studying speciated arsenic in urine, and analyzing phthalates in urine and PBDEs in serum and breast milk (APHL 2004, 2006). In 2004, New Hampshire received about 300,000 to support its biomonitoring program (APHL 2004). 

In a similar survey (Bad Blood A Survey of Chemicals in the Blood of European Ministers), WWF collected samples from 14 government ministers of 13 EU countries and analyzed them for 103 chemicals, including organochlorine pesticides, PCBs, synthetic musks, perfluorinated chemicals, PBDEs, phthalates, and antibacterials (WWF 2004). 

PBDE PBDEs in blood and breast milk Biomonitoring studies demonstrate key data gaps need to obtain new toxicity and exposure information Chapter 5... 

PBDE PBDE congeners in blood and breast milk Emerging exposure and toxicity database Biomarker results useful for demonstrating need for research and establishing reference range... 

Schroeter-Kermani, C., D. Hel, T. Hermann, and O. Papke. 2000. The German environmental specimen bank—application in trend monitoring of PBDEs in human blood. Organohalogen Compounds. 47 49-52. 

PBDEs Considered the new PCBs, polybrominated diphenyl ethers are a group of brominated flame retardants used in lots of products, including the foam in couches and mattresses, and plastic TV and computer monitors (Dell and HP, among others, have banned them). One of the reasons PBDEs are so hard to avoid is that they re not bound to the molecules in materials, so toxic residue can escape in the form of dust. Most kinds of PBDEs have been banned in Europe since 2004, and American women carry ten to seventy times as many PBDEs in their breast milk, tissues, and blood as Europeans do. Exposure to PBDEs during fetal development can negatively affect how the brain functions. 

A recent study investigated PBDEs in 21 paired maternal and fetal blood, and 27 breast milk, with most of the samples collected in Guangzhou (Bi et al., 2006). The concentrations of total PBDEs ranged from 1.5 to 17ngg-1 in the samples, and were within the range reported in European samples for a similar population, but lower than the human tissue levels in North America. BDE 47 and 153 were the dominant PBDE congeners in all samples and accounted for 60% of the total PBDEs. 

Schechter, A., Papke, O., Harris, T. R., Tung, K. C. (2006) Partitioning of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) congeners in human blood and milk. Toxicol. Environ. Chem., 88 319-324. 

Early exposure assessments focused on diet and in particular hsh that had elevated concentrations relative to other animal products (Kiviranta et al, 2004 Ohta et al, 2002). These assessments were informed by our experience with PCBs and PCDD/F for which diet was clearly the main exposure route. The exposure assessments pointed to a missing source since dietary intake of PBDEs did not seem to account for some elevated levels being measured in breast milk or blood serum. A particular puzzle was the source of PBDEs to the few women with up to 1000 times higher concentrations in their breast milk relative to others. For example, Ryan (2004) reported that concentrations from 98 Canadian women ranged from 23 to 38 240ng/kg whole milk with an arithmetic mean and median of 2400 and 880ng/kg whole milk. Another puzzle was the tenfold... 

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