Prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and breastfeeding: opposing effects on auditory P300 latencies in 9‐year‐old Dutch children

Abstract

Effects of perinatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on auditory P300 latencies and amplitudes were evaluated in children from a Rotterdam cohort. From this cohort of healthy, term babies, the 26 lowest and 26 highest prenatally PCB-exposed children from the breastfed and the formula-fed groups (n=104) were invited for P300 assessment when they were 9 years of age. For P300 assessment an auditory simple odd-ball paradigm was used. In the 83 participating children, 60 assessments (32 males, 28 females) satisfied the measurement criteria and were included in the data analyses. After adjusting for confounding variables, children with high prenatal exposure were found to have longer P300 latencies than children with low prenatal exposure. Lactational exposure to PCBs through breastfeeding milk was not related to P300 latencies. P300 latencies were shorter in children breast-fed for at least 16 weeks than in children breastfed for 6 to 16 weeks and formula-fed children. P300 amplitudes were not related to perinatal PCB exposure nor breastfeeding. Results of this exploratory study suggest that prenatal exposure to environmental levels of PCBs and related compounds delays mechanisms in the central nervous system that evaluate and process relevant stimuli, whereas breastfeeding accelerates these mechanisms.

A Critical Review about Human Exposure to Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins (PCDDs), Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) through Foods

“…The latencies on event-related potentials of the brain were longer at higher PCB exposure levels, but breastfeeding was associated with a decrease (Vreugdenhil et al, 2004a;2004b). So, these results suggest that the neurobehavioural manifestations reported to be associated with PCB exposure are likely to be permanent, but that the appearance may change during development.…”

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“…The latter also appeared negatively affected by lactational exposure to PCBs, while breastfeeding was associated with better scores. Likewise, the latencies on event-related potentials of the brain were longer at higher PCB exposure levels, but breastfeeding was associated with a decrease (Vreugdenhil et al, 2004b). These results suggest that the neurobehavioural manifestations reported to be associated with PCB exposure are likely to be permanent, but that the appearance may change during development.…”

Prenatal dioxin exposure and neurocognitive development in Hong Kong 11-year-old children

“…Our 2002 cohort adds to the literature that contemporary prenatal background dioxin exposure in this region does not appear to be associated with any long-term neurocognitive deficits in children, regardless of breastfeeding duration. Associations of prenatal PCB exposure with poorer intellectual function and deficits in attention have been observed in 11 year-olds in the Michigan cohort Jacobson, 1996, 2003) and in 9 year-olds in the Dutch cohort (Vreugdenhil et al, 2004a(Vreugdenhil et al, , 2004b, with a stronger impact among children with a shorter breastfeeding duration Jacobson, 2003, 2002) or less optimal home environments (Vreugdenhil et al, 2002). Our study population had a much lower in utero exposure to dioxin and dioxin-like compounds as indicated by the total PCB levels in the breast milk samples in our cohort (highest pooled level of 12 PCB congeners: 17.6 ng/g fat) and shorter breastfeeding duration, than the Michigan and Dutch studies.…”

“…Second, it is still unclear whether PCB-related neurocognitive deficits, if any, observed in infancy persist or diminish in childhood. While poorer intellectual function and attention by prenatal PCB exposure was still detected at 9-11 years in the Dutch (Vreugdenhil et al, 2004b;Vreugdenhil et al, 2004a), Michigan and Oswego cohorts (Jacobson and Jacobson, 1996;Stewart et al, 2008), prenatal PCB exposurerelated deficits in neurocognitive function observed in infancy were no longer detected at older ages in the German Dusseldorf (Winneke et al, 2005) and North Carolina (Gladen and Rogan, 1991) cohorts. Third, although earlier studies concluded that the observed adverse effects of dioxins, including delays in psychomotor development (Koopman-Esseboom et al, 1996), neurodevelopment (Huisman et al, 1995) and intellectual function (Jacobson and Jacobson, 1996) have been associated with prenatal, rather than lactational, dioxin and/or dioxin-like PCB exposure, it is still inconclusive as to whether children who are breastfed longer are protected from the adverse neurocognitive consequence of prenatal dioxin exposure (Patandin et al, 1999;Jacobson and Jacobson 2002).…”