Human exposure, in vitro metabolism and hepatotoxicity of organophosphate flame retardants.

The main goals are: 1) to characterize most important exposure pathways for humans to OPFRs in the indoor environment and identify the compounds of concern; 2) to investigate the biotransformation of OPFRs using in vitro systems; 3) to develop innovative mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approaches for simultaneous detection of selected OPFRs and the endogenous metabolites (small molecules which are produced by the cell resulting from its normal functions) in exposed human hepatocytes; 4) to identify specific biomarkers (e.g. endogenous metabolites) impacted by exposure to OPFRs in hepatocytes. The project has been already initiated with the development of analytical methods necessary for the completion of the first goal, while procedures for the second goal are currently being developed. The completion of the proposed project will ensure a better understanding of the risk potential of OPFRs to human health provided by in vitro experiments.

Keywords:PROTEIN CHEMISTRY, METABOLOMICS

Disciplines:Biomarker discovery and evaluation, Drug discovery and development, Medicinal products, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy and phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacotherapy, Toxicology and toxinology, Other pharmaceutical sciences