The effects of early postnatal exposure to a low dose of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) on serum metabolites in male mice

The toxicity of decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) has been reported in several studies. However, there is not much known about the toxicological biomarkers that characterize BDE-209 exposure. In this study, we subcutaneously exposed mice to 0.025 mg/kg/day BDE-209 on postnatal days 1‑5 and sacrificed the animals at 12 weeks of age (day 84). Flow injection analysis and hydrophilic interaction chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry were used to determine the serum metabolomes of these mice in order to characterize the effects of BDE-209 exposure. Data analysis showed a good separation between control and exposed mice (R(2) = 0.953, Q(2) = 0.728, and ANOVA of the cross‑validated residuals (CV‑ANOVA): P‑value = 0.0317) and 54 metabolites were identified as altered in the exposed animals. These were selected using variable importance (VIP) and loadings scaled by a correlation coefficient criteria and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS‑DA). BDE‑209‑exposed mice showed lower levels of long-chain acylcarnitines and citrate cycle-related metabolites, and higher levels of some amino acids, long-chain phospholipids, and short-chain acylcarnitines. The disruption of fatty acid, carbohydrate, and amino acid metabolism observed in the serum metabolome might be related to the previously observed impaired spermatogenesis in mice with early postnatal exposure to a low dose of BDE-209.