Combined analysis of prenatal (maternal hair and blood) and neonatal (infant hair, cord blood and meconium) matrices to detect fetal exposure to environmental pesticides

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2008.09.004

Environmental Research

Volume 109, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 116-122

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2008.09.004 Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine optimum biomarkers to detect fetal exposure to environmental pesticides by the simultaneous analysis of maternal (hair and blood) and infant (cord blood, infant hair or meconium) matrices and to determine if a combination of these biomarkers will further increase the detection rate.

Patients and methods

Pregnant women were prospectively recruited from an agricultural site in the Philippines with substantial use at home and in the farm of the following pesticides: propoxur, cyfluthrin, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin, pretilachlor, bioallethrin, malathion, diazinon and transfluthrin. Maternal hair and blood were obtained at midgestation and at delivery and infant hair, cord blood and meconium were obtained after birth. All samples were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for the above pesticides and some of their metabolites.

Results

A total of 598 mother/infant dyads were included in this report. The highest rates of pesticide exposure were detected in meconium (23.2% to propoxur, 2.0% to pretilachlor, 1.7% to cypermethrin, 0.8% to cyfluthrin, 0.7% to 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis, p-chlorophenylethane (DDT) and 0.3% to malathion and bioallethrin) and in maternal hair (21.6% to propoxur, 14.5% to bioallethrin, 1.3% to malathion, 0.8% to DDT, 0.3% to chlorpyrifos and 0.2% to pretilachlor). Combined analysis of maternal hair and meconium increased detection rate further to 38.5% for propoxur and to 16.7% for pyrethroids. Pesticide metabolites were rarely found in any of the analyzed matrices.

Conclusions

There is significant exposure of the pregnant woman and her fetus to pesticides, particularly to the home pesticides, propoxur and pyrethroids. Analysis of meconium for pesticides was the single most sensitive measure of exposure. However, combined analysis of maternal hair and meconium significantly increased the detection rate. A major advantage of analyzing maternal hair is that prenatal pesticide exposure in the mother can be detected and intervention measures can be initiated to minimize further exposure of the fetus to pesticides.

Introduction

There is widespread use of pesticides and human exposure to these compounds is inevitable (US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), 2004; Waliszewski et al., 1998, Lucena et al., 2007; Sekiyama et al., 2007; Ye et al., 2008; Chevrier et al., 2008; Tsatsakis et al., 2008). The exposure of the pregnant woman to pesticides is of major 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 of its brain at this stage of development (Bruckner, 2000; Eriksson, 1997; Barone et al., 2000). Most of the maternal exposures to environmental pesticides are probably 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 (HHS), 1999; Schettler et al., 2000; Grandjean et al., 2006). Substantial evidence from animal and human data has 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 to adverse outcomes from these neurotoxicants. There are a few reports of analysis of infant cord blood (Whyatt et al., 2003, Whyatt et al., 2004; Ostrea et al., 2008), meconium (Ostrea et al., 2002, Ostrea et al., 2008; Whyatt and Barr, 2001; Ortega Garcia et al., 2006; Bielawski et al., 2005) or infant hair (Ostrea et al., 2008) to detect prenatal exposure to pesticides. Similarly, in pregnant women, maternal hair and blood have been analyzed for pesticides (Ostrea et al., 2006). However, no study has yet been conducted that compares and correlates simultaneous analysis of both maternal and fetal matrices. The aim of this study was therefore to determine optimum biomarkers to detect fetal exposure to environmental pesticides by the analysis of maternal (hair and blood) and infant (cord blood, infant hair or meconium) matrices and to determine if a combination of biomarkers will further increase the detection rate.

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. 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 (26%), malathion (15%), diazinon (12%) and transfluthrin (11%). This study was approved by the

Statistical analysis

Mean (standard deviation) and frequency distribution were calculated to describe the demographic and socioenvironmental characteristics of the study population. When appropriate, median and interquartile ranges are presented. For statistical comparison, the units of pesticide concentrations in hair and meconium were expressed in μg mL⁻¹ to be uniform with the concentration unit in blood. The prevalence of exposure for each pesticide was compared among the five matrices by the Cochran Q test. A

Results

Mother/infant dyads who had all five matrices available for analysis, were included in this report (N=598). The demographic and environmental characteristics of the study population were as follows: Mean maternal age was 25.7 years with median gravidity of 2 and parity of 1. About 74% were married, 68.1% attained at least a high school education and 76.8% were homemakers. For the infants, mean gestational age was 38.7 weeks and 53.8% were males. About 59.2% of the subjects lived in their own

Discussion

The objective 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, maternal blood or meconium for pesticides: cord blood and maternal blood for chlorpyrifos, diazinon and propoxur (Whyatt et al., 2003, Whyatt et al., 2004) and meconium for organophosphates (Whyatt and Barr, 2001), DDE (Hong et al., 2002), organochlorines (Ortega Garcia et al., 2006) and other pesticides (Ostrea et al., 2002,

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, Rizza D.C. Villavicencio, Cecilia S. Gantong, Melody Dizon and Myray Morgado.

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^☆: Funding sources: This study was supported by grants from NIH/NICHD (R01HD039428), US Environmental Protection Agency (RFA 2001-STAR-H1, no. R829395) and EHS Center Grant P30 ES06639 from NIH/NIEHS, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.

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Combined analysis of prenatal (maternal hair and blood) and neonatal (infant hair, cord blood and meconium) matrices to detect fetal exposure to environmental pesticides☆

Abstract

Objective

Patients and methods

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Statistical analysis

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgments

J. Chromatogr. B—Anal. Technol. Biomed. Life Sci.

J. Chromatogr. B—Anal. Technol. Biomed. Life Sci.

Regul. Toxicol. Pharmacol.

J. Chromatogr. B—Anal. Technol. Biomed. Life Sci.

Behav. Brain Res.

Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf.

J. Pediatr.

J. Pediatr.

Neurotoxicology

Environ. Res.

Environ. Res.

Neurotoxicol. Teratol.

Forensic Sci. Int.

Sci. Total Environ.

Neurotoxicology

The relationship between levels of PCBs and pesticides in human hair and blood: preliminary results

Environ. Health Perspect.

Vulnerable processes of nervous system development: a review of markers and methods

Neurotoxicology

Exposure to indoor pesticides during pregnancy in a multiethnic, urban cohort

Environ. Health Perspect.

Detection of several classes of pesticides and metabolites in meconium by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Chromatographia

Prevalence and health impact of developmental disabilities in US children

Pediatrics