Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Mudsnails (Cipangopaludina cahayensis) and Sediments from an Electronic Waste Recycling Region in South China

Abstract

Mudsnails and sediments from an electronic waste recycling region in South China were chosen to study the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) bioavailability of mudsnail in different ambient levels. Significant (p \ 0.05) correlations of biota-sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) versus the reciprocal of PBDE concentration in sediment (1/Sed) occurred in all quantitative PBDE congeners except BDE-209, showed that the BSAFs of PBDEs in mudsnails were increased with reciprocal increasing ambient levels. The BDE-183 correlation of mudsnail versus sediment (r = 0.580) was much lower than the correlation of BDE-209 versus BDE-183 in mudsnails (r = 0.812), indicated the main source of BDE-183 in mudsnails was from the debromination of higher brominated PBDEs.Keywords Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) Á Mudsnail Á Sediment Á Biota-sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are brominated flame retardants (BFRs) which are widely used as additive components in a range of consumer products, such as computers, televisions, textiles, furniture, and other building materials (Birnbaum and Staskal 2004). They can be dissolved in materials and then leached into the environment and entered biota (Strandberg et al. 2001). The electronic waste (e-waste) recycling especially uncontrolled dismantling aggravated the process (Julander et al. 2005). So PBDEs become ubiquitous in the environment (Ueno et al. 2004). Furthermore, most toxicological studies have shown that serious health consequences, such as thyroidogenic, estrogenic, and hepatic effects as well as neurodevelopmental disorders, could result from prolonged exposure to PBDEs (Darnerud et al. 2001). Two of the three commercial PBDE mixtures (''penta-BDE'' and ''octa-BDE'') have been banned by the European Union and several U.S. states. Currently, the ''deca-BDE'' commercial mixtures are still heavy used, and there is no regulation for the usage and disposal of deca-BDE.Because of their ubiquity and potential toxicity, fish (Johnson and Olson 2001), birds (Voorspoels et al. 2006), bird eggs (Jonathan et al. 2006), and other biota (Pettersson et al. 2004) had been used to monitor the distribution of PBDEs in the environment. It was reported that lower (tetra-and penta-) PBDEs accumulated and biomagnified in biota, while the higher congeners (deca-) were prevalent in aquatic environments and sediments (Martin et al. 2004). And dietary exposure studies revealed that the bioavailability of deca-BDE had produced a range of results (Huwe and Smith 2007). However, there are few studies on the PBDEs bioavailability of biomonitor under different ambient levels (Sellström et al. 1998). In this work, we chose mudsnails (Cipangopaludina cahayensis) and sediments from an e-waste recycling region in South China to study the PBDEs bioavailability of mudsnail in different ambient levels. We aimed the bioconcentration, 123Bull Environ Contam Toxicol (2009) 82:206-210 DOI 10.1007 congeners distribution and source of PBDEs in mudsnails and sedim...

Biota-sediment accumulation factors for Dechlorane Plus in bottom fish from an electronic waste recycling site, South China

“…These values were consistent with those (0.0002-0.002) determined in mudsnails from another e-waste recycling site in South China (Yang et al, 2009). However, the calculated BSAFs for BDE 209 in the present study are generally 1-2 orders magnitude lower than our earlier reported values (averages of 0.02-0.11) in several marine fish and shrimp species collected from the Pearl River Estuary, South China (Xiang et al, 2007).…”

Bioaccumulation kinetics of polybrominated diphenyl ethers from estuarine sediments to the marine polychaete, Nereis virens

“…Polybrominated diphenyl ethers with the largest BSAFs 28 (BDEs 28/33, 66) had log K OW of approximately 6 to 7, with lower accumulation of the more hydrophobic congeners. This trend was generally consistent with other studies investigating BDE uptake by deposit feeders [27,28], other studies of HOC uptake by deposit feeders [36], and highly chlorinated PCBs specifically [37]. For HOCs with log K OW greater than 7, bioavailability generally decreases with increasing molecular weight because of stronger associations with sediment particles and lower solubility in water and digestive fluids.…”

“…Similar to what was observed in the spiked sediment exposures, BSAFs 28 generally decreased with increasing K OW , with the penta-BDE congener BSAFs 28 two orders of magnitude higher than the BSAF 28 for congeners in the deca-BDE mixture (Fig. 5).…”

“…1, 2). Selective accumulation of the penta-BDE congeners over BDE 209 was also observed in L. variegatus after 28 d exposure to spiked sediments [14] and in other studies investigating BDE uptake by invertebrates living in contaminated sediments [27,28]. Concentrations of BDEs and PCB 209 in the worms increased until day 16, after which the predominant penta-BDE congeners (47, 99, 100, 153, 154) appeared to be approaching steady-state (Fig.…”

“…The mean BSAFs 28 for BDE 207, BDE 209, and PCB 209 from the spiked sediments were 0.0012 AE 0.0003, 0.0003 AE 0.00008, and 0.0024 AE 0.0001, respectively. In general, BSAFs 28 decreased with increasing K OW, with penta-BDE congener BSAFs 28 three orders of magnitude higher than the BSAF 28 for BDE 209 (Fig. 4).…”