Abstract
Although some regulatory agencies have claimed that consumer exposures to tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) are not likely to cause adverse health effects in humans or the environment, the safety of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) has been questioned. Here, we summarize the literature concerning in vivo and in vitro neurotoxicity of TBBPA over the past decades. Most laboratory rodent studies reported that gavage administration of TBBPA at doses below 1000 mg/kg/day generally exerted no or limited effects on neuropathology and locomotor behaviors, but increased anxiety and auditory impairments were observed in several studies. In fish and amphibians, waterborne exposure to TBBPA was generally reported to disrupt neurodevelopment and lead to neurobehavioral alterations. Moreover, in vitro studies support the observations that TBBPA could exert neurotoxic effects in vertebrates. Thus, we suggest that TBBPA could have adverse effects on the nervous system in vertebrates. Given rapid excretion and low availability of TBBPA in laboratory rodents following single gavage administration, we speculate that single-daily gavage could result in an underestimation of the neurotoxic effects of TBBPA in rodents. Thus, we propose to employ multiple-daily administration routes (such as dermal, inhalation, and drinking water), to further assess the neurotoxic effects of TBBPA in mammals.
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The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21876196) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0901103).
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Z.Q. had the idea for the article, M.D. performed the literature search and data analysis, Y.L. and M.Z. gave meaningful suggestions for the article. All authors drafted and/or critically revised the work.
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Dong, M., Li, Y., Zhu, M. et al. Tetrabromobisphenol A: a neurotoxicant or not?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 54466–54476 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15166-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15166-w