Brominated fatty acid distribution in tissues and fluids of rats fed brominated vegetable oils

Rats dosed orally for four days with 0.24 g/kg body weight per day of brominated olive oil (BOO) or brominated sesame oil (BSO) were found to accumulate dibromostearic (DBS) acid (from BOO) and DBS and tetrabromostearic (TBS) acids (from BSO) in the liver, heart and adipose tissue. The metabolites, dibromopalmitic, and dibromomyristic acids (from BOO and BSO), as well as their tetrabromo-analogues (from BSO) were found as determined by gas chromatography with halogen specific detection and confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Blood contained no DBS, TBS or metabolites. However, inorganic bromide was observed in both blood and urine while none was observed in the feces. The latter contained significant quantities of both DBS and TBS but showed the absence of the four brominated metabolites.