DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4j0zpc88q
title: Physiological effects of developmental exposure to flame retardant mixture Firemaster 550 or it's components

description: Firemaster 550 (FM550) is a flame retardant (FR) mixture which has become
 one of the most commonly used FRs in household items such as foam-based
 furniture and baby products. Because this mixture readily leaches from
 products, contamination of the environment and human tissues is
 widespread. Prior work by us and others has reported sex-specific
 behavioral deficits in rodents and zebrafish following early life
 exposure. In an effort to understand the mechanisms by which these
 behavioral effects occur, here we explored the effects of its constituents
 on behavioral outcomes previously shown to be altered by developmental
 FM550 exposure.  The FM550 commercial mixture is composed of two
 brominated compounds (BFR) and two organophosphate compounds (OPFRs) at
 almost equivalent proportions. Both the BFR and the OPFR components are
 differentially metabolized and structurally distinct, but similar to known
 neurotoxicants. Here we examined adult Wistar rat offspring socioemotional
 behaviors following perinatal exposure (oral, to the Dam) to vehicle, 2000
 µg/day FM550, 1000 µg/day BFR or 1000 µg/day OPFR from gestation day 0 to
 weaning. Beginning on postnatal day 65 offspring from all groups were
 subjected to a series of behavioral tasks including open field, elevated
 plus maze, marble burying, social interaction tests, and running
 wheel.  Effects were exposure-, sex- and task-specific, with BFR
 exposure resulting in the most consistent behavioral deficits. Overall,
 exposed females showed more deficits compared to males across all dose
 groups and tasks. These findings help elucidate how different classes of
 flame retardants, independently and as a mixture, contribute to
 sex-specific behavioral effects of exposure.
description: Females were sacrificed on the day of estrus, and all rats were
 collected at approximately PND 247-261. Serum was collected from all rats
 via trunk blood. Wet weights were collected for adrenals, pituitaries,
 whole liver, kidneys, and hearts. The adrenals, pituitaries and median
 lobe of the livers was frozen on powdered dry ice and stored in -80°C.
 Using the ROUT outliers test (Q=1%), one BFR male and one OPFR female
 were identified and removed from adrenal and heart weight analysis,
 respectively. Final animal numbers were as follows: controls
 (14F, 14M); BFR (11F, 8M); OPFR (11F, 11M); and FM550 (14F,
 15M). Serum
 biochemistry was analyzed for 14 biochemical markers of general toxicity
 (listed in data set) to determine exposure effects. All procedures
 followed manufacturer’s protocols. On day of analysis, random samples of
 serum were thawed at 4°C and 120µL/sample added to the Comprehensive
 Diagnostic profile rotors (500–7123; Abaxis, Union City, CA). For quality
 assurance, a control sample (pooled from 20 random samples) was ran
 approximately every 25 samples. Rotors were placed in the VetScan VS2
 Whole Blood chemistry analyzer and data exported. Final numbers were
 controls (13F,14M), BFR (11F,9M), OPFR (12F,11M) and FM550 (14F,15M).
 Although 21 statistical outliers from 6 biomarkers across female and male
 groups were identified, all data was used because no animal had greater
 than 2 outlying samples across all biomarkers.