A rapid method to determine tetrabromobisphenol a in rat serum and urine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), one of the most widely used brominated flame retardants in the world, is used to improve fire safety of laminates in electrical and electronic equipment. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the determination of TBBPA in rat serum and urine, and applied to the toxicokinetic study of TBBPA in rats. Acceptable linearity was observed over the concentration ranges of 0.25–50 and 0.01–5 μg/mL in serum and urine, respectively. The limits of detection of TBBPA were 0.04 μg/mL in serum, and 0.0025 μg/mL in urine. The precisions for the assay in serum and urine were below 13 and 14%, respectively, and the accuracies ranged 95–111% and 98–101% for intraday and 97–107% and 97–102% for inter-day, respectively. Serum and urine concentrations of TBBPA were successfully monitored following oral administrations at the dose of 200 mg/kg in male Sprague Dawley rats. Toxic signs were not observed at 200 mg/kg of TBBPA. The present results suggest that the rapid method developed in the present study affords sensitivity, accuracy and precision necessary for quantitative measurements in toxicokinetic studies of TBBPA in vivo.