Abstract
Polybrominated dibenzofurans (PBDFs) are major brominated dioxins in the environment, but information on their bioaccumulation potential and toxicokinetics is limited. This study conducted oral exposure experiments with C57BL/6J mice to investigate the uptake ratios, distribution in the liver, plasma and brain, metabolism, and elimination kinetics of four bromine/chlorine-substituted dibenzofurans (TrBDF: 2,3,8-tribromo, TeBDF: 2,3,7,8-tetrabromo, PeBDF: 1,2,3,7,8-pentabromo, TrBCDF: 2,3,7-tribromo-8-chloro) in comparison with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). The hepatic uptake ratios of 2,3,7,8-substituted dibenzofurans were lower than that of TCDD (up to 84% of the administered doses) and decreased with the number of Br substitutions (42%, 33%, and 29% for TrBCDF, TeBDF, and PeBDF, respectively). The brain uptake ratios of these dibenzofurans were less than 0.05%, and the plasma-to-brain transfer ratio also decreased with the Br number. All 2,3,7,8-substituted compounds were eliminated from the liver following first-order kinetics, with half-times in the order of TrBCDF (5.6 days) < TeBDF (8.8 days) ≈ TCDD (8.7 days) < PeBDF (13 days). The non-2,3,7,8-substituted TrBDF was poorly retained in the liver (<0.01% of the dose at 1 day) and rapidly eliminated following two-phase kinetics. All dibenzofurans were metabolised into monohydroxylated products in the liver, but the contribution of this metabolic pathway to hepatic elimination was only significant for TrBDF. As the toxic effects of dioxin-like compounds are influenced by their biological persistence, the slow elimination of TrBCDF, TeBDF, and PeBDF observed in this study suggests that exposure risk of brominated dibenzofurans may be underestimated using the toxic equivalency factors of the less persistent chlorinated analogues.