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. 2011 Feb 1;45(3):1121-6.
doi: 10.1021/es1019614. Epub 2010 Dec 17.

Partition of environmental chemicals between maternal and fetal blood and tissues

Larry L Needham  1 , Philippe Grandjean, Birger Heinzow, Poul J Jørgensen, Flemming Nielsen, Donald G Patterson Jr, Andreas Sjödin, Wayman E Turner, Pal Weihe
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Partition of environmental chemicals between maternal and fetal blood and tissues

Larry L Needham et al. Environ Sci Technol. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Passage of environmental chemicals across the placenta has important toxicological consequences, as well as for choosing samples for analysis and for interpreting the results. To obtain systematic data, we collected in 2000 maternal and cord blood, cord tissue, placenta, and milk in connection with births in the Faroe Islands, where exposures to marine contaminants is increased. In 15 sample sets, we measured a total of 87 environmental chemicals, almost all of which were detected both in maternal and fetal tissues. The maternal serum lipid-based concentrations of organohalogen compounds averaged 1.7 times those of cord serum, 2.8 times those of cord tissue and placenta, and 0.7 those of milk. For organohalogen compounds detectable in all matrices, a high degree of correlation between concentrations in maternal serum and the other tissues investigated was generally observed (r(2) > 0.5). Greater degree of chlorination resulted in lower transfer from maternal serum into milk. Concentrations of pentachlorbenzene, γ-hexachlorocyclohexane, and several polychlorinated biphenyl congeners with low chlorination were higher in fetal samples and showed poor correlation with maternal levels. Perfluorinated compounds occurred in lower concentrations in cord serum than in maternal serum. Cadmium, lead, mercury, and selenium were all detected in fetal samples, but only mercury showed close correlations among concentrations in different matrices. Although the environmental chemicals examined pass through the placenta and are excreted into milk, partitions between maternal and fetal samples are not uniform.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Lipid-based concentration (ng/g) of the sum of all quantified polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in milk and fetal tissues (identified by different symbols), as compared to the concentration in maternal serum in fifteen sets of samples.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average partition ratio between lipid-based concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in milk and maternal serum from 15 sample pairs in regard to the number of chlorine substitutions of each congener measured.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total mercury concentrations in cord tissue and placenta (left vertical scale), and maternal hair (right vertical scale) in relation to those in cord blood (horizontal scale) from 15 sets of samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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