Elsevier

Environmental Research

Volume 106, Issue 2, February 2008, Pages 277-283
Environmental Research

A comparison of infant hair, cord blood and meconium analysis to detect fetal exposure to environmental pesticides

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2007.08.014Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective: The detection of fetal exposure to environmental pesticides is important because many of the pesticides are neurotoxicants and fetal exposure to these compounds can adversely affect prenatal and subsequent neurodevelopment. The aim of this study was to determine, by the comparative analysis of infant hair, cord blood and meconium, the most sensitive matrix to detect fetal exposure to pesticides.

Patients and methods: Pregnant women were prospectively recruited from an agricultural site in the Philippines where a preliminary survey indicated a substantial use at home and in the farm of the following pesticides: propoxur, cyfluthrin, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, pretilachlor, bioallethrin, malathion, diazinon and transfluthrin. Infant hair, cord blood and meconium were obtained after birth and were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for the above compounds, including lindane and 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis, p-chlorophenylethane (DDT) and some of their known metabolites.

Results: A total of 638 infants were included in the study. The highest exposure rate to pesticides was detected in meconium (23.8% to propoxur, 1.9% to pretilachlor, 1.9% to cypermethrin, 0.8% to cyfluthrin, 0.6% to DDT and 0.3% to malathion and bioallethrin). Cord blood was only positive for propoxur (1.9%) whereas infant hair was only positive for chlorpyrifos (0.2%). The highest exposure was to household pesticide (propoxur). The frequency and concentration of pesticides were compared in the three matrices and there was a significantly higher frequency and concentration of propoxur, pretilachlor, DDT, cyfluthrin and cypermethrin in meconium compared to cord blood and infant hair. Pesticide metabolites were not found in any of the matrices analyzed, except in one meconium sample which was positive for 4,4′ dichlorodiphenyldichloro ethylene (DDE), a DDT metabolite.

Conclusions: There is significant exposure of the pregnant woman and her fetus to pesticides, particularly to the home pesticide, propoxur. Our study has demonstrated that among cord blood, meconium or infant hair, meconium is the most sensitive matrix to analyze for fetal exposure to pesticides. The accumulation of pesticides in meconium, the ease of meconium collection and the large amount of meconium that could be collected are factors that contribute to the increased sensitivity of this matrix.

Introduction

There is widespread use of pesticides and vast quantities are dispersed in the environment and are subsequently found in the air, water, soil and food sources (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2004). Human exposure to pesticides is therefore inevitable and bioaccumulation of pesticide residues in human tissues has been reported (Waliszewski et al., 1998). The exposure of the pregnant woman to pesticides in the environment is a major public health concern since a majority of the pesticides are neurotoxicants and the fetus is at greater risk, compared to the adult, to the toxic effects of these chemicals due to the rapid state of growth and development of its brain (Bruckner, 2000). Aberrations in neuronal proliferation, migration, differentiation, synaptogenesis, myelination and apoptosis in the fetus have been described in animals and humans antenatally exposed to these compounds (Eriksson, 1997; Barone et al., 2000). It is likely that most of the maternal exposures to environmental pesticides are subtle and result in little or no recognizable effects in the pregnant woman. Yet, serious concerns have been raised about their adverse effects on the fetus and of their potential role in subsequent developmental, learning and behavioral difficulties in children (Boyle et al., 1994; California Health and Human Services, 1999; Schettler et al., 2000; Grandjean et al., 2006; Crump et al., 1998). Substantial evidence from animal and human data have demonstrated that a variety of chemicals commonly encountered in industry and the home can contribute to these disorders, even at low levels of exposure (Crump et al., 1998; Schantz and Bowman, 1989; Holene et al., 1998; Jacobson and Jacobson, 1990; Rosenstein and Chernoff, 1978). In one study, the carbamate, propoxur was observed to impair reflex development in the offspring of rats prenatally exposed to low levels of the pesticides (Rosenstein and Chernoff, 1978). In humans, abnormal reflexes in newborn infants, as assessed by the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale were associated with maternal exposure to environmental organophosphates during pregnancy (Young et al., 2005). Thus, reliable biomarkers of fetal exposure to environmental pesticides are needed to identify infants who are at risk at birth and as potential predictors of adverse outcomes. A few reports have analyzed infant cord blood (Whyatt et al., 2003, Whyatt et al., 2004) or meconium (Whyatt and Barr, 2001; Hong et al., 2002; Ortega Garcia et al., 2006) for pesticides and their metabolites, but no study has yet been conducted which compared various fetal matrices to determine the most sensitive matrix to detect exposure. The aim of this study was to determine which matrix (cord blood, infant hair or meconium) will detect the highest rate and concentration of fetal exposure to environmental pesticides.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Pregnant women were prospectively recruited from the Outpatient Clinic of the Provincial Hospital in Malolos, an agricultural town in the province of Bulacan, Philippines from June 2002 to September 2004. The subjects were not participants of other ongoing research. Our preliminary survey of pesticide use in the region showed the predominant use of the following compounds at home or in the farm: cyfluthrin/propoxur (73%), chlorpyrifos (37%), cypermethrin (31%), pretilachlor (28%), bioallethrin

Results

A total of 638 infants were studied. The mean gestational age of the infants was 38.4±1.9 weeks; 54.4% were male and 46.1% female. The sociodemographic characteristics of the study population are shown in Table 1. The mean ages of the fathers and mothers were 28.5 and 25.8 years, respectively and mean monthly family income was 5576 pesos (equivalent of US$100). The mean number of families and individuals in the household were 1.62 and 5.28, respectively. About 59.4% lived in their own homes,

Discussion

The aim of this study was to determine reliable measures of fetal exposure to environmental pesticides. A few studies have reported on the analysis of cord blood or meconium for pesticides. Cord blood was analyzed together with maternal blood to monitor chlorpyrifos, diazinon and propoxur exposure during pregnancy (Whyatt et al., 2003, Whyatt et al., 2004). Meconium was analyzed for organophosphates (Whyatt and Barr, 2001), DDE (Hong et al., 2002), organochlorines (Ortega Garcia et al., 2006)

Acknowledgments

We would also like to acknowledge the invaluable help and participation in this research of Essie Ann M. Ramos, M.D., Abner M. Hornedo, M.D., Patrocinio C. Mateo, M.D., Philip Cruz, M.D., Lilibeth R. Avendano, Rubilyn S. Obando, Maribel V. Santiago, Roberta S. Briones, Rozza D.C. Villavicencio, Cecilia C. Santiago.

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    This study is supported by grants from National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, United States National Institutes of Health (1RO1HD039428), United States Environmental Protection Agency (RFA 2001-STAR-H1) No. R829395 and the Environmental Health Sciences Centerin Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.

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