2026-10-06T19:51:42Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34037763 2026-10-01T02:05:52Z category_4 category_272 category_873 category_734 portal_63 item_type_6 month_year_10_2026

Toxicokinetics Reveal Structure-Related Differences in Developmental Toxicity among Typical Aromatic Disinfection Byproducts in Zebrafish Embryos Xin Li (51274) Guifang Pan (8466759) Ling Zhang (18071) Huizhen Li (1522132) Jing You (415799) Biochemistry Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified vivo toxicokinetic behavior toxicokinetic analysis showed median lethal residues median lethal concentrations emerging contaminants generated drinking water disinfection biologically relevant risk negligible internal residues toxicokinetics reveal structure extremely low bioaccumulation exhibit higher cytotoxicity elevated internal exposure traditional aliphatic dbps compare developmental toxicity internal exposure magnitude higher characterize toxicokinetics appreciable bioaccumulation slower elimination related differences chlorinated counterparts brominated analogues based prioritization aromatic dbps Aromatic disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are emerging contaminants generated during drinking water disinfection and exhibit higher cytotoxicity and genotoxicity than traditional aliphatic DBPs. However, in vivo toxicokinetic behavior of aromatic DBPs during sensitive developmental stages remains poorly understood, limiting accurate risk assessment. Here, five aromatic DBPs within three classes (halophenols, halonitrophenol, and halohydroxybenzaldehydes) were systematically investigated using zebrafish embryos to compare developmental toxicity and characterize toxicokinetics. Developmental toxicity tests showed that the median lethal concentrations (LC₅₀) of halonitrophenol were lower than halophenols and halohydroxybenzaldehydes, and brominated analogues were consistently more toxic than chlorinated counterparts. When expressed as median lethal residues (LR₅₀) instead of LC₅₀, toxicity differences decreased from 13-fold to 3-fold, indicating that reliance on external concentrations may misrepresent toxic potency. Toxicokinetic analysis showed that halophenol and halonitrophenol DBPs exhibited higher uptake and slower elimination, resulting in appreciable bioaccumulation and elevated internal exposure. In contrast, halohydroxybenzaldehydes exhibited substantially lower uptake rate constants, whereas elimination rate constants were 2–3 orders of magnitude higher, collectively resulting in extremely low bioaccumulation and negligible internal residues. These distinct kinetic profiles provide, for the first time among aromatic DBPs, insights linking chemical structure, internal exposure, and toxicity, supporting more biologically relevant risk-based prioritization. 2026-09-30T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 10.1021/acs.est.6c06696.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Toxicokinetics_Reveal_Structure-Related_Differences_in_Developmental_Toxicity_among_Typical_Aromatic_Disinfection_Byproducts_in_Zebrafish_Embryos/34037763 CC BY-NC 4.0