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Abstract
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) have been using to reduce the flammability of plastics contained in many products, such as household articles, furniture, mattresses, textiles or insulation. Considering the fact that these compounds may be released into the environment leading to the exposure of living organisms, it is necessary to study their possible effects and mechanisms of action. Proteins play a crucial role in all biological processes. For this reason, a simple model of human serum albumin (HSA) was chosen to study the mechanism of BFRs’ effect on proteins. The study determined interactions between selected BFRs, i.e., tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), tetrabromobisphenol S (TBBPS), 2,4-dibromophenol (2,4-DBP), 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP) and pentabromophenol (PBP), and HSA by measurement of fluorescence of intrinsic tryptophan and absorbance of circular dichroism (CD). In addition, in order to understand the possible effect of these compounds in their native environment, the effect of BFRs on membrane proteins of human erythrocytes (red blood cells, RBCs) was also assessed. Among bromophenols, PBP had the strongest oxidative effect on RBC membrane, and 2,4-DBP demonstrated the weakest fluorescence-quenching effect of both membrane tryptophan and HSA. By contrast to PBP, 2,4-DBP and 2,4,6-TBP caused spatial changes of HSA. We have observed that among all analyzed BFRs, TBBPA caused the strongest oxidation of RBC membrane proteins and the model HSA protein, causing reduction of fluorescence of tryptophan contained in them. TBBPA also changed albumin conformation properties, leading to impairment of the α-helix structure. However, TBBPS had the weakest oxidative effect on proteins among studied BFRs and did not affect the secondary structure of HSA.
Highlights
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are the compounds used to reduce flammability and/or retard combustion of organic materials, mostly of polymerized plastics
Due to the fact that tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) structure is similar to the structure of the thyroid hormone, thyroxine (T4), and it is a derivative of another endocrine disruptor, bisphenol A (BPA), it is suspected that TBBPA may affect the hormonal system of living organisms, including humans [2]
In order to assess the effect of BFRs on protein in a chemical system, we have compared the effect of TBBPA, tetrabromobisphenol S (TBBPS), 2,4-DBP, 2,4,6-TBP and PBP on human serum albumin (HSA)
Summary
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are the compounds used to reduce flammability and/or retard combustion of organic materials, mostly of polymerized plastics. BFRs are used to reduce the flammability of plastics in many products, such as household articles, furniture, mattresses, textiles or insulation [1]. Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) has the largest share in the production of BFRs (approximately 60%). Al-Mousa (2012) and Michelangeli (2019) have suggested that BFRs at micromolar concentrations caused β-amyloid peptide (Aβ-42) formation and release from human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) within a few hours of exposure. These results showed that these toxicants are both neurotoxic and amyloidogenic in vitro
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