Abstract

The bioaccumulation behavior, including the uptake, internal distribution, depuration, and biotransformation rates of three widely used linear methyl-siloxanes was investigated in Rainbow trout. Dietary uptake efficiencies of L3, L4, and L5 were 15% (3.3% SE), 8.6% (1.4% SE) and 15% (1.8% SE), respectively and for L3 and L4 were well below those of non-metabolizable reference chemicals with similar octanol-water partition coefficients, suggesting significant intestinal biotransformation of L3 and L4. Somatic biotransformation rate constants were 0.024 (0.003 SE) d^-1 for L3; 0.0045 (0.0053 SE) d^-1 for L4; and could not be determined for L5. Lipid-normalized biomagnification factors for L3, L4 and L5 were 0.24 (0.02 SE), 0.24 (0.01 SE) and 0.62 (0.05 SE) kg-lipid kg-lipid^-1, respectively. Bioconcentration factors standardized to a 5% lipid content fish (BCF_5%) for water in Canadian oligotrophic lakes with a dissolved organic carbon content of 7.1 mg L^-1were 2787 (354 SE) for L3, 2689 (312 SE) for L4, and 1705 (418 SE) L kg-ww^-1, respectively and 3085 (392 SE) for L3, 4227 (490 SE) for L4, and 3831 (938 SE) L kg-ww^-1 in water with a dissolved organic carbon content of 2.0 mg L^-1. A comparison of 238 bioaccumulation profiles for 166 different chemicals show that the bioaccumulation profiles for L3, L4 and L5 are vastly different from that of other very hydrophobic compounds found in the environment.