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ToxSci Advance Access published online on August 24, 2005
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfi295
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Published by Oxford University Press 2005.
Received March 2, 2005
Accepted August 18, 2005

Environmental Toxicology

Exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs): changes in thyroid, vitamin A, glutathione homeostasis, and oxidative stress in American kestrels (Falco sparverius)

Kim J. Fernie 1*, J. Laird Shutt 1, Greg Mayne 2, David Hoffman 3, Robert J. Letcher 4, Ken G. Drouillard 5, and Ian J. Ritchie 6

1 Canadian Wildlife Service, 867 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7R 4A6
2 National Wildlife Research Centre, Canadian Wildlife Service, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0H3
3 Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 12011 Beech Forest Drive, Laurel, Maryland, USA
4 Canadian Wildlife Service, 867 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7R 4A6; Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue W., Windsor, Ontario, Canada, N9B 3P4; Current address of RJL: National Wildlife Research Centre, Canadian Wildlife Service, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0H3
5 Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue W., Windsor, Ontario, Canada, N9B 3P4; Current address of RJL: National Wildlife Research Centre, Canadian Wildlife Service, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0H3
6 Avian Science and Conservation Centre, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, H9X 3V9

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Kim J. Fernie, E-mail: kim.fernie{at}ec.gc.ca


  Abstract

B Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a class of additive flame retardants, are temporally increasing in wildlife tissues and capable of disrupting normal endocrine function. We determined whether in ovo and post hatch exposure of captive American kestrels (Falco sparverius) to environmentally-relevant PBDEs alter thyroid, retinol, and oxidative stress measures. Control eggs were injected with safflower oil and subsequent nestlings fed the same vehicle; dosed eggs received PBDE congeners (BDE-47, -99, -100, -153) that mainly comprise the Penta-BDE commercial mixture, dissolved in safflower oil at concentrations (1500 ng/g total [{sum}] PBDEs) approximating those in Great Lakes gull eggs. Nestlings hatching from dosed eggs were orally exposed for 29 d to variable {sum}PBDE concentrations that are similar to levels reported in tissues of Great Lakes trout (100 ng/g). Treatment kestrels had lower plasma thyroxine (T4), plasma retinol, and hepatic retinol and retinyl palmitate concentrations, but unaltered triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations and thyroid glandular structure. BDE-47, -100, and -99 were negatively associated with plasma T4, plasma retinol (BDE-100, -99) and hepatic retinol (BDE-47). Despite an antioxidant-rich diet, PBDE exposure induced hepatic oxidative stress, particularly in females, with an increased hepatic GSSG:GSH ratio, a marginal increase in lipid peroxidation, and increased oxidized glutathione. Positive associations were found between concentrations of BDE-183 and thiols, and in males, between BDE-99 and reduced GSH, but a negative association occurred between BDE-99 and TBARS. Subsequently, concentrations of PBDE congeners in wild birds may alter thyroid hormone and vitamin A concentrations, glutathione metabolism and oxidative stress.

Keywords: PBDEs; thyroid; retinol; oxidative stress; glutathione; birds.
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