Association between serum polybrominated diphenyl ethers, new flame retardants and thyroid hormone levels for school students near a petrochemical complex, South China

Abstract

As surrogates of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), new flame retardants (NFRs) include a series of chlorinated and brominated flame retardants. Though the NFRs are thought to induce similar thyroid hormone (TH) disrupting effects as PBDEs, few studies have focused on them. Given the increasing levels of NFRs in the environment, more in depth investigation of the potential TH disrupting effects of NFRs is warranted. This research involved a health survey to collect data and examine the associations between PBDEs, NFRs and TH. 174 school students lived near a petrochemical complex in South China participated in the survey, completing questionnaires and providing blood samples. Thirteen congeners of PBDEs, eight species of NFRs, TH and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured. The median levels of ΣPBDE (sum of thirteen congeners of PBDEs) and ΣNFR (sum of eight species of NFRs) for students were 140 and 240 ng g lipid, respectively. Nonmonotonic relationships were observed between quartile levels of PBDEs, NFRs and corresponding TH. In contrast to ΣPBDE that was positively associated with triidothyrine (T) level, ΣNFR was not statistically associated with TH. ΣPBDE + NFR (sum of thirteen congeners of PBDEs and eight species of NFRs) was significantly associated with T level.

Disruption of thyroid hormone regulated proteins and gene expression by polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and new flame retardants in residents of an e-waste region

“…Whether these mechanisms are relevant to interpreting TH disruption from PCBs, PBDEs, and NFRs in humans is still unknown (Thornton et al, 2016). Without knowing these mechanisms, we cannot interpret the inconsistent results in TH disruption reported in previous studies after exposure of humans to these chemicals (Guo et al, 2018b).…”

Emerging environmental pollutants hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers: From analytical methods to toxicology research

“…It is thought to be the bottleneck of the analysis since it is the most laborious and time‐consuming step. Several critical reviews on extraction methods of PBDEs and metabolites (MeO‐PBDEs and OH‐PBDEs) have been published (Berton et al, 2016; Guo et al, 2018). They have summarized the merits and demerits of many existing extraction techniques, including traditional liquid‐liquid extraction (LLE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE)/accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), and solid‐phase extraction (SPE) methods.…”

“…However, owing to OH‐PBDEs’ low volatility character, derivatization procedure, such as acylation (Pillai et al, 2014; Xiang et al, 2018) and silylation (Butryn et al, 2015; Dufour, Pirard, & Charlier, 2016) are often required. Although derivatization steps are relatively time‐consuming, and reaction reagents are toxic to the environment (Stapleton et al, 2011), the excellent chromatographic resolution and selectivity made GC‐MS a non‐substitutable tool in the detection of brominated compounds (Iparraguirre et al, 2014; Makey et al, 2016; Guo et al, 2018).…”

“…Accumulating evidence suggests that PBDEs might have adverse impacts on the thyroid hormone system (Stapleton et al, 2011; Dishaw et al, 2014; Makey et al, 2016; Guo et al, 2018). Because of the structural similarity of OH‐PBDEs with thyroid hormones, the association of OH‐PBDEs and thyroid function have been widely investigated through different perspectives, including epidemiological surveys (Stapleton et al, 2011; Eguchi et al, 2015), in vitro assays (Nakamura et al, 2013; Qin et al, 2019) and animal investigations (Feng et al, 2012; Norrgran et al, 2015).…”

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether Serum Concentrations and Depressive Symptomatology in Pregnant African American Women

“…Clear connections between PBDE levels and thyroid disruption have been made [4,5,[17][18][19][20]. PBDEs have similar shape and structure to thyroid hormones and are thought to mimic thyroid activities as a result.…”