Insecticide Exposure During Pregnancy Linked To Alterations In Brain Structure And Cognition

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Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Public Health;  Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 02 May 2012 - 0:00 PDT

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Even low to moderate levels of exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos during pregnancy may lead to long-term, potentially irreversible changes in the brain structure of the child, according to a new brain imaging study by researchers from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Duke University Medical Center, Emory University, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The changes in brain structure are consistent with cognitive deficits found in children exposed to this chemical.

Results of the study appear online in PNAS.

The new study is the first to use MRI to identify the structural evidence for these cognitive deficits in humans, confirming earlier findings in animals. Changes were visible across the surface of the brain, with abnormal enlargement of some areas and thinning in others. The disturbances in brain structure are consistent with the IQ deficits previously reported in the children with high exposure levels of chlorpyrifos, or CPF, suggesting a link between prenatal exposure to CPF and deficits in IQ and working memory at age 7.

The study also reports evidence that CPF may eliminate or reverse the male-female differences that are ordinarily present in the brain. Further study is needed to determine the consequences of these changes before and after puberty, the researchers say.

Notably, the brain abnormalities appeared to occur at exposure levels below the current EPA threshold for toxicity, which is based on exposures high enough to inhibit the action of the key neurological enzyme cholinesterase. The present findings suggest that the mechanism underlying structural changes in the brain may involve other pathways.

According to the lead author, Virginia Rauh, ScD, Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health and Deputy Director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, "By measuring a biomarker of CPF exposure during pregnancy, and following the children prospectively from birth into middle childhood, the present study provides evidence that the prenatal period is a vulnerable time for the developing child, and that toxic exposure during this critical period can have far-reaching effects on brain development and behavioral functioning."

"By combining brain imaging and community-based research, we now have much stronger evidence linking exposure to chlorpyrifos with neurodevelopmental problems," adds senior author Bradley S. Peterson, MD, Chief of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Director of MRI Research in the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center.

In the current study, the researchers used MRI to evaluate the brains of 40 New York City children, ages 5 to 11, whose mothers were enrolled prenatally in a larger cohort study. Researchers compared 20 children with high exposures to CPF with 20 children with lower exposures; all exposures occurred prior to the EPA ban on household use of the chemical in 2001. They found brain anomalies were associated with the higher exposure.

Since the 2001 ban, a drop in residential exposure levels of CPF has been documented by Robin Whyatt, DrPH, a co-author on the present study and Professor of Clinical Environmental Health Sciences and Co-Deputy Director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at the Mailman School. However, the chemical continues to be present in the environment through its widespread use in agriculture (food and feed crops), wood treatments, and public spaces such as golf courses, some parks, and highway medians. People near these sources can be exposed by inhaling the chemical, which drifts on the wind. Low-level exposure can also occur by eating fruits and vegetables that have been sprayed. Although the chemical is degraded rapidly by water and sunlight outdoors, it has been detected by the Columbia researchers in many urban residences years after the ban went into effect.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our pregnancy / obstetrics section for the latest news on this subject. The study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grants 5P01ES09600, P50ES015905, and 5R01ES08977, as well as pilot funding through ES009089; EPA STAR Grants RD834509, RD832141, and R827027; National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH068318 and K02-74677; and the John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation.
Additional co-authors included Frederica P. Perera and Megan K. Horton, Mailman School; Ravi Bansal, Xuejun Hao, and Jun Liu, Columbia University Medical Center; Dana Boyd Barr, Emory University; and Theodore A. Slotkin, Duke University.
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Clinical signs that an environmental pollutant can contribute to obesity by prenatal exposure

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Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 18 Apr 2012 - 0: 00 PDT

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Overall, 17% of children in the United States are obese, and in inner-city neighborhoods, the prevalence is as high as 25%. While poor diets and physical inactivity are the main culprits, there is new evidence that air pollution can play a role.

A study by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health finds that pregnant women in New York City exposed to higher concentrations of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, were more than twice as likely to have children who were obese by age 7 compared with women with lower levels of exposure. PAH, a common urban pollutant, are released into the air from the burning of coal, diesel, oil and gas, or other organic substances such as tobacco.

Results are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"Obesity is a complex disease with multiple risk factors." "It isn't just the result of individual choices like diet and exercise," says the study's lead author Andrew g. Rundle, Dr. P.H., a professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. "For many people who don't have the resources to buy healthy food or don't have the time to exercise, prenatal exposure to air pollution may tip the scales, making them even more susceptible to obesity."

Researchers recruited 702 non-smoking pregnant women through prenatal clinics at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Harlem Hospital. The women were 18-35 years old, identified themselves as either African-American or Dominican, and lived in areas in Northern Manhattan or the South Bronx that are predominantly low income. Over the course of two days during their third trimester, they wore a small backpack equipped to extensively sample the surrounding air; at night they placed it near their bed.

Children of women exposed to high levels of PAH during pregnancy were nearly twice as likely (1.79 times) to be obese at age 5, and more than twice as likely (2.26 times) to be obese at age 7, compared with children of mothers with lower levels of exposure. The 7-year-olds whose mothers were in the highest exposure group had, on average, 2.4 lbs. more fat mass than children of mothers with the least exposure.

"Not only was their body mass higher, but it was higher due to body fat rather than bone or muscle mass," says Dr. Rundle.

These findings fit with evidence from animal studies and tissue sample experiments. Mouse studies have shown that exposure to PAH causes gains in fat mass, while cell culture studies have shown that exposures to PAH prevent normal lipolysis, the process by which fat cells shed lipids and shrink in size.

Previous research at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School found that prenatal exposure to PAH can negatively affect childhood IQs and is linked to anxiety, depression and attention problems in young children. PAH also disrupt the body's endocrine system and are known carcinogens.

Fortunately, there are ways to reduce PAH exposure. Some fuels release more of the chemicals than others, explains Dr. Rundle, and efforts in New York City to take diesel buses off the streets and retrofit oil furnaces so they burn cleaner fuel is already starting to help.

Despite known linkages between socioeconomic status and obesity levels, the researchers found the impact of PAH on risk of obesity was not influenced by household income or neighborhood poverty. They also ruled out the influence of cigarette smoke in the household and proximity to highly trafficked roads.

Robin Whyatt, DrPH, the paper's senior author, notes that the study is one of the first to present evidence that chemicals in the environmental can contribute to obesity in human beings. Future research will focus on identifying other examples of these "obesogens" and ways to reduce them, says Dr. Whyatt, who is deputy director at CCCEH and professor of clinical environmental health sciences at the Mailman School.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our obesity / weight loss / fitness section for the latest news on this subject. Funding was provided by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (# P01 ES009600).
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health Please use one of the following formats to quote this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Hea. "Clinical Evidence That An Environmental Pollutant Can Contribute To Obesity Through Prenatal Exposure." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 18 Apr. 2012. Web.
22 Apr. 2012. APA
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Hea. (2012, April 18). "Clinical Evidence That An Environmental Pollutant Can Contribute To Obesity Through Prenatal Exposure." Medical News Today. Retrieved from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/244184.php.

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' Clinical Evidence That An Environmental Pollutant Can Contribute To Obesity Through Prenatal Exposure'

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View the original article here