title: Phthalate exposure in pregnant women and newborns - the urinary metabolite excretion pattern differs distinctly.
abstract: Some phthalates are endocrine disruptors and reproductive and developmental toxicants. Data on newborn phthalate exposure and elimination characteristics are scarce. We determined 21 urinary phthalate metabolites (indicating exposure to 11 parent phthalates) in two study approaches: in the first approach we collected the urine of 20 healthy newborns at days 2-5 post partum together with 47 urine samples of 7 women during pregnancy. In the second fine tuned approach we collected first urine samples of 9 healthy newborns together with their mother's urine shortly before birth. To ensure full and contamination free collection of the newborns first urines we used special adhesive urine bags for children. All urine samples revealed ubiquitous exposures to phthalates comparable to other populations. Metabolite levels in the newborns first day urine samples were generally lower than in all other samples. However, the newborns urines (both first and day 2-5 urines) showed a metabolite pattern distinctly different from the maternal and general population samples: in the newborns urines the carboxy-metabolites of the long chain phthalates (DEHP, DiNP, DiDP) were the by far dominant metabolites with a relative share in the metabolite spectrum up to 6 times higher than in maternal urine. Oppositely, for the short chain phthalates (DBP, DiBP) oxidized metabolites seemed to be less favored than the simple monoesters in the newborns urines. The skewed metabolite distribution in the newborns urine warrants further investigation in terms of early phthalate metabolism, the quantity of internal phthalate exposure of the fetus/newborn and its possible health effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Placenta Laboratory, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Uta
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Enke
authors.forename: Ekkehard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schleussner
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pälmke
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Seyfarth
authors.forename: Holger Martin
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Koch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D010795:Phthalic Acids / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D010795:Phthalic Acids; C032279:phthalic acid
keywords: Newborns; Oxidized metabolites; Phthalates; Plasticizers; Pregnancy; Urine