Prenatal exposure to PCBs and neurological and sexual/pubertal development from birth to adolescence

Sietske Annette Berghuis,Elise Roze

doi:10.1016/j.cppeds.2019.04.006

Abstract

Several chemical compounds are resistant to degradation and end up in the food chain. One group of these chemicals is polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which are used as flame retardants and plasticizers. Although PCBs were banned several decades ago, PCBs are still found in environmental media, including in the body of humans. PCBs are transferred from mother to fetus via the placenta during pregnancy. Considering that the prenatal period is a sensitive period during which essential developmental processes take place, exposure to environmental chemicals might have considerable and permanent consequences for outcomes in later life. The aim of this review is to provide an update on the latest insights on the effects of prenatal exposure to PCBs on neurological, sexual and pubertal development in children. We give an overview of recent literature, and discuss it in the light of the findings in a unique Dutch birth cohort, with data on both neurological and pubertal development into adolescence. The findings in the studies included in this review, together with the findings in the Dutch cohort, demonstrate that prenatal exposure to PCBs can interfere with normal child development, not only during the perinatal period, but up to and including adolescence. Higher prenatal exposure to PCBs was found to be both negatively and positively associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes. Regarding pubertal development, higher prenatal PCB exposure was found to be associated with more advanced pubertal development, also in the Dutch cohort, whereas other studies also found delayed pubertal development. These findings raise concern regarding the effects of man-made chemical compounds on child development. They further contribute to the awareness of how environmental chemical compounds can interfere with child development and negatively influence healthy ageing.

Highlights

Environmental chemicalsI n the past decades, various classes of chemicals were produced that were used in a wide variety of consumer products, such as coolants in electrical appliances and flame retardants in a range of household items
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) belong to a class of chemicals consisting of 209 different congeners with varying numbers of chlorine atoms attached to a biphenyl at varying positions.[4] (Fig. 1) PCBs can be metabolized in the human liver by microsomal oxidases to form hydroxylated metabolites (OH-PCBs)
The aim of this review is to provide an update on the latest insights on the effects of prenatal exposure to PCBs on neurological, sexual and pubertal development in children

Summary

Introduction

I n the past decades, various classes of chemicals were produced that were used in a wide variety of consumer products, such as coolants in electrical appliances and flame retardants in a range of household items. Two examples of such chemicals are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The OH-PCBs are present in concentrations in the human body similar in range to many PCB congeners.[5] PCBs were produced between 1929 and 1985 and were used in a variety of products including coolants in heat-transfer systems, lubricants in plastics and flame-retardants.[6] For examples of applications of PCBs see Fig. 2.7,8

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