Polybromodiphenyl ethers in mothers and their newborns from a non-occupationally exposed population (Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

Polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were analyzed in blood serum of pregnant women and in cord blood serum of their newborns from a general population cohort (n = 174; Valencia, Spain). The most abundant PBDE congeners identified were BDE 47, BDE 99, BDE 153, BDE 154 and BDE 209. Their cord blood serum concentrations were about 45% of those in maternal serum but after lipid normalization about the same concentrations were observed in both types of samples. Thus, median of total PBDEs was 9.6 ng/g lipid in cord serum (range between not detected and 140 ng/g lipid) and 9.6 ng/g lipid in maternal serum (range between not detected and 120 ng/g lipid). The distributions of these compounds were dominated by BDE 47 in both cases. In cord blood serum the decreasing order of abundance was BDE 47>BDE 99>BDE 209>BDE 153>BDE 154. The congener composition in maternal serum followed a similar trend: BDE 47>BDE 153>BDE 154>BDE 209>BDE 99. The congener concentrations exhibited a higher degree of correlation in cord blood than in maternal serum. Use of the maternal determinants for categorization of the observed maternal and fetal PBDE concentrations only showed significant associations for the levels in umbilical cord. Neonates from rural areas exhibited statistically significantly lower concentrations than those from urban, semi-urban or metropolitan sites. Maternal serum also showed this difference but the higher dispersion of the concentrations in maternal serum did not afford its recognition with statistical significance. The lower qualitative and quantitative variability in the PBDE concentrations of cord blood serum than maternal serum suggest that the latter is reflecting PBDE contributions from a wider diversity of sources than the former whereas cord blood sera seem to represent the long term standing stock of these compounds accumulated in the maternal tissues.

Association between prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers and young children's neurodevelopment in China

“…However, levels of cord blood PBDEs in our population are in general lower than those reported in North America (the US and Canada) (Herbstman et al, 2007(Herbstman et al, , 2010Mazdai et al, 2003;Foster et al, 2011) but substantially higher than those reported in Asia (other domestic areas such as Guangzhou and Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan) (Chen et al, 2014b;Lin et al, 2011;Kim et al, 2009;Kawashiro et al, 2008) and Europe (Spain, Sweden, France, and Denmark) (Vizcaino et al, 2011;Guvenius et al, 2003;Antignac et al, 2009;Frederiksen et al, 2010) (Online Supplemental Table 2). The reason for the disparity between our results and those of previous studies is not well-known.…”

Relationship between paired cord blood and milk POPs levels as a tool for assessing perinatal exposure, a pilot study

“…They were however much lower than those in a Spanish study at 9.6 ng g -1 fat (Vizcaino et al, 2011) or in the USA at 19.7 ng g -1 fat (Herbstman et al, 2008).…”

Inverse age-dependent accumulation of decabromodiphenyl ether and other PBDEs in serum from a general adult population

“…studies in North America (Castorina et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2010;Sandanger et al, 2007;Sjödin et al, 2001Sjödin et al, , 2008, New Zealand (Harrad and Porter, 2007), Asia (Bi et al, 2006;Lee et al, 2007) and Europe, including studies conducted in Sweden, Norway, Germany and the Faroe Islands (Fängström et al, 2005;Guvenius et al, 2003;Schröter-Kermani et al, 2000;Thomsen et al, 2002). In some cases in which BDE-209 was included, BDE-47 was also found to predominate over the decabromate congener (Gómara et al, 2007;Vizcaino et al, 2011). In a few European studies performed in British (Thomas et al, 2006), Belgian (Roosens et al, 2010) and Greek (Kalantzi et al, 2011) populations, BDE-153 was found to be the dominant PBDE congener.…”

“…There is now evidence that BDE-209 also accumulates in humans (Antignac et al, 2009;Covaci and Voorspoels, 2005;Fängström et al, 2005;Gómara et al, 2007;Jin et al, 2009;Lunder et al, 2010;Sjödin et al, 2008;Takasuga et al, 2004;Thomas et al, 2006;Uemura et al, 2010;Vizcaino et al, 2011;Weiss et al, 2006;Zhu et al, 2009), including newborns (Vizcaino et al, 2011). However, this compound is rarely measured in human studies from non-exposed populations.…”