Distribution is a major factor affecting bioaccumulation of decabrominated diphenyl ether: Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) as an example.

While decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) has very low bioavailability and a rapid biotransformation rate, it exhibits high bioaccumulation in wildlife. To explore the bioaccumulation mechanism of BDE-209 in organisms, its toxicokinetic processes were investigated in Chinese sturgeons from the Yangtze River. Different from less brominated BDEs, lipids did not play an important role in the distribution of BDE-209 with relatively high concentrations detected in liver (54.5 ± 3.3 ng/g wet weight (ww)), gills (47.4 ± 2.9 ng/g ww), and intestine (41.9 ± 3.0 ng/g ww), followed by stomach (21.9 ± 9.0 ng/g ww), muscle (19.1 ± 5.6 ng/g ww), heart (7.5 ± 5.2 ng/g ww), gonad (6.8 ± 4.9 ng/g ww), adipose (4.9 ± 1.2 ng/g ww), and egg (2.8 ± 2.3 ng/g ww). In vitro metabolism of BDE-209 by microsomal fractions of Chinese sturgeon found that BDE-209 was biotransformed rapidly with the rate constant (K) of 0.039 h(-1) in liver. BDE-126, BDE-154, BDE-188, BDE-184, BDE-183, BDE-202, BDE-201, and BDE-204/197 were observed as debrominated products of BDE-209 after incubation, and their formation rates were 0.026, 0.016, and 0.006 h(-1) for BDE-126 BDE-184, and BDE-154, respectively. The concentration ratios between heart and intestine for individual PBDEs suggested slow delivery of BDE-209 among tissues after absorption. A Bayesian hierarchical model was further developed to estimate partition coefficients in a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model of BDE-209 in Chinese sturgeon. The estimated partition coefficients between tissues and blood were higher than those of less brominated BDE or PCBs in various animals, suggesting that the low partition ratios from blood to tissues would lead to high bioaccumulation of BDE-209, especially in absorbing organs.