| Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used as flame retardants in polymeric materials for fire safety of personal care products. Humans are exposed to PBDEs mainly through foods, indoor air, etc. Animal studies showed that PBDEs induced reproductive damage, thyroid hormone disruption, neurodevelopmental deficits and even cancer. Epidemiological data showed that PBDEs exposures were associated with reproductive damage or thyroid hormone disruption in humans. Although people are now paying more attention on environment endocrine disputors chemicals (EDCs), there have been few reported studies to investigate the association between prenatal PBDEs exposure and Intrauterine Growth Retardation (IUGR). Therefore, this study aimed to assess in utero exposure level of PBDEs, explore the potential role of placenta barrier against fetal exposure to PBDEs and observe the difference of all the congeners in passing placenta barrier. Case-control study was designed to explore the association between in utero exposure of PBDEs and IUGR, and try to find their concentration-response relationship.In this study,143 newborn-mother pairs were recruited from the second affiliated hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, including 60 term IUGR newborns and 83 control term newborns and their mothers. Maternal blood and umbilical cord blood (UCB) samples were collected and analyzed for 19 PBDEs congeners, including BDE-17、 BDE-28、BDE-33、BDE-47、BDE-49、BDE-66、BDE-99、BDE-100、BDE-138、 BDE-153、BDE-154、BDE-183、BDE-190、BDE-196、BDE-203、BDE-206、BDE-207、 BDE-208 and BDE-209, by the method of Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).All the 19 congeners were detected in maternal blood except BDE-183, with a range from ND-335.440 ng/g lw. BDE-209 was the most abundant congener found in maternal blood, followed by BDE-206, BDE-207 and BDE-208. In UCB, BDE-209 was still found to be the most abundant congener, followed by BDE-207, BDE-206 and BDE-208. All the congeners were detected in UCB except BDE-190, ranging from ND-467.660 ng/g lw. Concentrations of all low-brominated diphenyl ethers congeners except BDE-49 in maternal blood were higher than those in UCB, and there were statistical significance in ∑DE17-190 (p=0.016). However, among the detected high-brominated diphenyl ethers congeners, the concentrations of BDE-206, BDE-207, BDE-209 and DE 196-209 in maternal blood were significantly lower than those in UCB (p=0.003,p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.001), and the Fetus-Maternal Ratio (F-M Ratio) of these congeners was less than one.In our study, BDE-17, BDE-66, BDE-153, BDE-206, BDE-207, BDE-208, BDE-209, ∑BDE17-190, ∑BDE196-209 and ∑19PBDEs levels in maternal blood samples were significantly higher in cases than those in controls. In UCB samples, concentrations of BDE-47, BDE-66, BDE-206, BDE-207, BDE-208, BDE-209,∑BDE17-190, ∑BDE196-209 and ∑19PBDEs were significantly higher in cases than those in controls. In addition, results showed that BDE-47, BDE-66, BDE-206, BDE-207, BDE-208, BDE-209, ∑BDE17-190, ∑BDE196-209, ∑19PBDEs levels in UCB were inversely associated with birth weight, birth length and Quetlet’s index. After adjusted for infant sex, maternal age and socioeconomic level, odds ratio of IUGR risks were found to be increased with the increasing of BDE-47, BDE-208, and ∑BDE17-190 exposure levels by multiple logistic regression analysis.In conclusion, PBDEs were ubiquitous in serum samples of newborns and their mothers. The placental barrier could not totally stop PBDEs from transferring across the placenta and finally reaching the fetus. Elevated PBDEs levels in UCB could result in lower birth weight, lower birth length so that increase the risk of IUGR in newborns. The association between higher levels of BDE-47, BDE-208, ∑BDE17-190 in UCB with the risk of IUGR showed a concentration-response relationship. When BDE-47, BDE-208 and ∑BDE17-190 level increase every 10 times, the OR of IUGR were 5.562 times,3.490 times and 9.360 times of before. |
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