Study On Internal Exposure And Subchronic Toxicity Of Tetrabromobisphenol-a In Wistar Rats Following Inhalation Exposure

The compound 2,2’6,6’-Tetrabromo-4,4-isopropylidenediphenol (tetrabromobisphenol-A, TBBPA) is an e□cient, reliable, and effective Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) with the largest production volume today. It is incorporated into a variety of consumer products, primarily in the Printed Circuit Boards or laminates. With the fast development of Flame Retardants industry and the dramatic increase in demand for it, TBBPA is released into the environment constantly, and ingested into living organisms by contact, breathing, and eating. Currently, the scientists have paid more attention to the environmental pollution of TBBPA and its negative health effects to human or other living organisms, however, most of the researches on TBBPA have only looked at exposure by oral administration, and a few of research has focused on the inhalation exposure. While the metabolic characteristics and subchronic toxicity of TBBPA in living organisms following inhalation exposure, may different with oral administration. In this study, using TBBPA particles (diameter<10 um) as subjects combined with the equipment of inhalation exposure (head and nose-only) with powder aerosol, constructing the inhalation exposure systems with inhalable particles and the experimental animal model. And achieving the TBBPA aerosol doses:129,546,1216 or 4550 ug/m3, by tuning system parameters. Following 14-d (2 h/d) repeated inhalational exposure, the TBBPA concentrations in serum of Wistar rats increased with the rise of doses, and having correlation between them; the primary route of TBBPA elimination was in feces, and these values had good linear relationship with exposure doses. After 90-d (2 h/d) repeated inhalational exposure, the results showed that the organ coefficients of the kidney and the spleen of each exposure group were significantly reduced (P<0.05) than the control group.In addition, the incidence of lung lesions and the degree of its pathological lesions in the inhalation exposed groups were higher than that in blank control group and vehicle control group. Indicated that the toxic effect of kidney and spleen and the inflammation of lung in Wistar rats might be caused by the subchronic inhalation exposure to inhalable particles of TBBPA.