Partitioning and Bioaccumulation of PBDEs and PCBs in Lake Michigan

Abstract

Water from Lake Michigan and fish from all five Great Lakes have been sampled and analyzed for a suite of six polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners and 110 polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (PCBs). The Lake Michigan dissolved phase PBDE congener concentrations (0.2 to 10 pg/L) are similar to dissolved phase PCB congener concentrations (nondetected to 13 pg/L). Partitioning of PBDEs between the particulate and dissolved phases exhibits behavior similar to that of PCBs. Organic-carbon-normalized water-particle partition coefficients (log K(OC)s) ranged from 6.2 to 6.5. Lake trout are depleted in BDE-99 relative to dissolved phase concentrations, and in contrast to what is expected from the PCB congener patterns. This reflects suspected debromination of BDE-99 in the food web of Lake Michigan. A regression of the log of the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and the log of the octanol-water partition coefficent (K(OW)) indicated a positive relationship for both PCB congeners and PBDE congeners. BDE-99 does not appear to followthe same trend, a further indication that it is subject to biotransformation. Using the PBDE BAFs for Lake Michigan and the PBDE fish concentrations from the other Great Lakes it is expected that the dissolved phase concentrations of congeners in the other lakes would range from 0.04 to approximately 3 pg/L.

Bioaccumulation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and decabromodiphenyl ethane in fish from a river system in a highly industrialized area, South China

“…The calculated log BAFs were between 5.0 and 7.4 for PBDE congeners and between 6.1 and 7.1 for DBDPE. The BAF values for PBDE congeners in the present study were similar to those calculated in Lake Trout in Lake Michigan (6.7-7.5) (Streets et al, 2006) but higher than those calculated in organism in a lake in Beijing (2.2-6.2) (Wang et al, 2007) and in fishes in Lake Winnipeg (2.1-4.5) (Law et al, 2006). So far, no BAF values were available for DBDPE.…”

“…BSAF is a parameter describing bioaccumulation of sediment-associated organic compounds or metals into tissues of ecological receptors (Burkhard, 2009). To our knowledge, there are a few BAFs and BSAFs of PBDE available (Dodder et al, 2002;Sellström et al, 1998;Streets et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2007;Xiang et al, 2007), but no relative data available for DBDPE by far. Dongjiang River is one of the tributaries of the Pearl River.…”

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediments and fish species from the Murchison Bay of Lake Victoria, Uganda

“…The PBDE levels were lower than the data reported in fish from Ghana (Asante et al, 2013), South Africa (Wepener et al, 2012), China (Hu et al, 2010;Xiang et al, 2007), Spain (Labandeira et al, 2007;Lacorte et al, 2006), France (Teil et al, 2012) and the United States Streets et al, 2006) (Table 4). BDE 47 the most predominant congener in the sediments was also abundant in fish (Fig.…”

Determination of environmentally relevant exposure concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers for in vitro toxicological studies

“…In general, previous studies of PBDEs in vitro have incorporated micromolar (lM) levels in the culture media, although several reports have used nanomolar (nM) levels (Barber et al, 2006;Cantón et al, 2006;Dingemans et al, 2007Dingemans et al, , 2008Fery et al, 2009;Giordano et al, 2008Giordano et al, , 2009He et al, 2008aHe et al, ,b, 2009Hu et al, 2007;Madia et al, 2004;Mercado-Feliciano and Bigsby, 2008;Peters et al, 2004Peters et al, , 2006Stavenes Andersen et al, 2009;Song et al, 2009;Stapleton et al, 2009;Tagliaferri et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2007). None of these studies measured the cellular PBDE concentrations but it is assumed that the concentrations used may not be environmentally relevant because they are much higher than the picomolar (pM) or lower levels typically found in environmental water or body fluids (Frederiksen et al, 2009;Gill et al, 2004;Streets et al, 2006;Wu et al, 2008). It is important to establish exposure concentrations of PBDEs for in vitro toxicological studies that will result in environmentally relevant concentrations in culture cells.…”