Thyroid hormone status of newborns in relation to in utero exposure to PCBs and hydroxylated PCB metabolites.
The associations between in utero exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or hydroxylated PCB metabolites (OH-PCBs), and free thyroxin (fT4) or thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) status in the newborn were investigated as a pilot study of a large-scale epidemiologic study on in utero PCB or OH-PCB exposure and thyroid function of the newborns. Umbilical cord tissue was used as the media for the biological monitoring of PCBs/OH-PCBs exposure in utero. For the measurement of fT4 and TSH, a heel-prick blood sample spotted on filter paper, which is called Guthrie card, is collected from each neonate at day 4-6 postpartum for this study when the mass screening sampling was performed. We showed that the concentration of total OH-PCBs and one of the OH-PCB congeners (OH-PCB 187) was related significantly to higher fT4 level of newborns. On the other hand, the concentration of total PCBs and PCB congeners (PCB 118, 138, 153, and 180) showed no relationship with fT4 and TSH level of the newborns. The results obtained in this pilot study indicated the possibility that in utero OH-PCBs exposure affects thyroid hormone status of newborns.
Otake
Takamitsu
T
Department of Environmental Studies, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8563, Japan.
Yoshinaga
Jun
J
Enomoto
Takeshi
T
Matsuda
Muneaki
M
Wakimoto
Tadaaki
T
Ikegami
Miyuki
M
Suzuki
Emiko
E
Naruse
Hiroshi
H
Yamanaka
Tomoya
T
Shibuya
Noriko
N
Yasumizu
Takehiko
T
Kato
Nobumasa
N
D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood*; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000737:chemistry
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D013972:Thyrotropin; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls; D013974:Thyroxine