Levels and distribution of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) in environmental samples near manufacturing facilities in Laizhou Bay area, East China

Abstract

A total of 55 samples including soil, sediment, plants (cypress, reed and seepweed) and aquatic species were collected at locations around hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) manufacturing facilities in Laizhou Bay area, East China. HBCD was determined at concentrations ranging between 0.88 and 6901 ng g À1 dry weight (dw), 2.93-1029 ng g À1 dw, 8.88-160 241 ng g À1 dw, and 7.09-815 ng g À1 lipid weight (lw), respectively. Significant negative correlations (r 2 ¼ 0.54, p ¼ 0.006) were observed between HBCD concentrations in soils and the distance from the manufacturing facility, and the concentrations became constant when the distance was >4 km. The calculation results on the bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) suggested that HBCD may be accumulated in plants. Tissue-specific bioaccumulation of HBCD diastereoisomers was found in aquatic species. For example, in crabs the highest concentrations of HBCD (815 ng g À1 lw for female and 446 ng g À1 lw for male) were observed in the gill. Besides the gill, a-HBCD was more preferentially accumulated in the spermary and ovary, while b-and g-HBCD were more accumulated in the muscle. A similar distribution was also observed in roe and muscle of goby fish.

Emerging Persistent Organic Pollutants in Chinese Bohai Sea and Its Coastal Regions

“…The concentration of HBCD in the sediment turned out to be a very high value, which has reached 634 ng/g. HBCDs levels in riverine sediments in Laizhou Bay area, which is the biggest brominated chemical industry base in China, were reported by Li et al [33]. The highest concentrations in sediment samples reached 1029 ng/g dw, which was obviously influenced by the production activities in local area.…”

Developmental toxicity of three hexabromocyclododecane diastereoisomers in embryos of the marine medaka Oryzias melastigma

“…In addition, in vitro work reveals that α-HBCD is more resistant to metabolic degradation by liver enzymes of both rats and adult trout than β-and γ-HBCD [31].Therefore, the stereoisomer-selective biotransformation of HBCDs in adult fish can result in totally different isomer composition in fish body from that of tHBCD. Indeed, α-HBCD in general accounts for ~80-90% of total HBCDs in both freshwater and marine fish tissues collected from the field, whereas β-and γ-HBCD are the minor fractions [6,13]. HBCDs are maternally transferred to fish eggs [32], so the compositions of the three diastereoisomers in fish eggs are almost identical to those in other fish tissues, e.g., in fish fillet [6,13].…”

“…In addition, β-and γ-HBCD can be biotransformed to α-HBCD in adult fish [10][11][12]. Indeed, α-HBCD is always the predominant HBCD diastereoisomer detected in both freshwater and marine fish sampled from the field, accounting for ~80-90% of total HBCDs [1,3,13,14].…”

Global trends of research on emerging contaminants in the environment and humans: a literature assimilation

“…It is interesting to note that most sampling sites for the target EMCs except for pyrethroids were located in China, such as the Pearl River Delta (Chen et al 2011), the Yangtze River Delta (Zhu et al 2013a), Yellow River (Sha et al 2007), and Laizhou Bay (Li et al 2012a). In these field studies, surface sediments were often collected for characterizing the levels and distributions of EMCs.…”