Decabromodiphenyl ether （decaBDE）,as a flame retardant,is widely produced and used.To study the thyroid disruption by technical decaBDE at low concentrations,Xenopus laevis tadpoles were exposed to technical decaBDE mixture DE-83R （1-1000 ng/L） in water from stage 46/47 （free swimming larvae,system of Nieuwkoop and Faber） to stage 62.DE-83R at concentration of 1000 ng/L significantly delayed the time to metamorphosis （presented by forelimb emergence,FLE）.Histological examination showed that DE83R at all tested concentrations caused histological alterations-multilayer follicular epithelial cell and markedly increased follicle size accompanied by partial colloid depletion and increase in the peripheral colloid vacuolation,in thyroid glands.All tested concentrations of DE-83R also induced a down-regulation of thyroid receptor mRNA expression.These results demonstrated that technical decaBDE disrupted the thyroid system in X.laevis tadpoles.Analysis of polybrominated diphenyl ethers （PBDEs） （sum of 39 congeners） in X.laevis indicated that mean concentrations of total PBDEs in X.laevis exposed to 1,10,100,1000 ng/L were 11.0,128.1,412.1,1400.2 ng/g wet weight,respectively.Considering that PBDEs burden of X.laevis tadpoles was close to PBDEs levels in amphibians as reported in previous studies,our study has raised new concerns for thyroid disruption in amphibians of technical decaBDE at environmentally relevant concentrations.
The levels and distributions of polybrominated diphenyl ethers （PBDEs） in chicken tissues from an electronic waste （e-waste） recycling area in southeast China were investigated. Human dietary intake by local residents via chicken muscle and eggs was estimated. The mean PBDEs concentrations in tissues ranged from 15.2 to 3138.1 ng/g lipid weight （lw） and in egg the concentration was 563.5 ng/g lw. The results showed that the level of total PBDEs （∑PBDEs） in the chicken tissue was 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than those reported in the literature. The large difference of ∑PBDEs concentrations between tissues confirmed that the distribution of PBDEs in tissues depend on tissue-specificity rather than the ＂lipid-compartment＂. BDE-209 was the predominant congener （82.5%- 94.7% of ∑PBDEs） in all chicken tissues except in brain （34.7% of ∑PBDEs）, which indicated that deca-BDE （the major commercial PBDE formulation comprising 65%-70% of total production） was major pollution source in this area and could be bioaccumulated in terrestrial animals. The dietary PBDEs intake of the local residents from chicken muscle and egg, assuming only local bred chickens and eggs were consumed, ranged from 2.2 to 22.5 ng/（day.kg body weight （bw）） with a mean value of 13.5 ng/（day-kg bw）, which was one order of magnitude higher than the value reported in previous studies for consumption of all foodstuffs.
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers （PBDEs） as ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants have attracted much attention in recent years. Exposure to PBDEs could induce a high health risk for children. The aim of this study was to investigate the PBDEs exposure of children （9–12 years） from Taizhou, China. Fifty-eight blood samples were collected in one school in a mountainous area in Taizhou. The concentrations of ∑9PBDEs （sum of BDE-28, -47, -99, -100, -153, -154, -183, -197 and -209） ranged from 2.66 to 33.9 ng/g lipid wet （lw） with a median of 7.22 ng/g lw. These concentrations were lower than those of children in USA, but close to European and Asian general population levels. The results showed that children in Taizhou countryside were at a low level of PBDEs exposure. The predominant congener was BDE-209, followed by BDE-28, -47, -197 and -153. High abundance of BDE-209 was consistent with the pollution background of PBDEs in China characterized by high brominated congeners as main pollutants.
Xiaoyou ZhangXianli RuanMinchan YanYaxian ZhaoWuji WeiZhanfen QinYongjian YangHaiming XuYan Li
To understand potential ecotoxicological effects of electrical and electronic equipment waste （e-waste） recycling and polybrominated diphenyl ethers （PBDEs） bioaccumulation in loaches, a semi-field experiment using Chinese loach （Misgurnus anguiUicaudatus） as experimental fish was performed. Larval loaches were kept in net-cage for three months in an e-wastes recycling site and a reference site in Southeastern China. There was significant difference of the survival rate between the loaches from the e-wastes recycling site （27%, 19/70） and from reference site （70%, 49/70）. Histopathological responses were also found in all the livers examined in loaches from the e-wastes recycling site. These results showed that mixed pollutants resulted from e-wastes recycling led to ecotoxicological effects on loaches. The bioaccumulation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers （PBDEs）, the main pollutants in e-waste, in loaches was also studied, the mean concentration of total PBDEs in sediment was 6726.17 ng/g wet weight and in water samples was 4.08 ng/L （dissolved phase）. BDE 209 was the dominant congener in sediment and with relatively high concentration in water. Relatively low concentration of BDE 209 （less than 0.01% of total PBDEs） and high concentration of BDE47 （up to 39.34% of total PBDEs） were detected in loaches.
