Desrochers-Couture Mireille, Cordier Sylvaine, Rouget Florence, Michineau Léah, Monfort Christine, Thomé Jean-Pierre, Kadhel Philippe, Multigner Luc, Muckle Gina
Population Health and Optimal Health Practices Research Unit, CHU De Québec Research Centre, Québec, Canada.
Univ Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut De Recherche En Santé, Environnement Et Travail) - UMR_S 1085, Rennes, France.
Neurotoxicology. 2022 Jan;88:208-215. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2021.12.003. Epub 2021 Dec 7.
Chlordecone is an organochlorine that was largely used as an insecticide to control a species of root borers, the Banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus), in the French West Indies, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Its molecules have been shown to be very persistent in the environment as pollution in soils leading to contamination of water sources and foodstuff will last for several decades. Our team previously reported associations between prenatal chlordecone exposure and poorer fine motor development at two points in time during infancy.
To document whether effects of prenatal exposure to chlordecone previously reported persists until middle-childhood, and whether deleterious effects are observed in domain of visual processing. Associations with postnatal exposure and sex-specific vulnerabilities were also investigated.
We examined 410 children from the TIMOUN mother-child cohort in Guadeloupe at 7 years of age. Concentrations of chlordecone and other environmental contaminants were measured in cord- and children's blood at age 7 years. Fine motor function was assessed using the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition (BOT-2). The Computerized Adaptive Testing System (CATSYS) was used to evaluated postural hand tremor, while non-verbal visuospatial processing was measured using the Stanford Binet copying (S-B copying) test. We used adjusted multiple linear regressions to test the relationship between children's scores and both continuous and categorical blood chlordecone concentrations, adding child sex as a moderator in continuous models.
Cord chlordecone concentrations are associated with a regular frequency pattern of subtle hand tremors in both hands, and not related to visual processing and fine motor precision. Chlordecone concentrations in blood sample collected at testing time are associated with poorer visual processing when copying geometric figures, but not significantly related to poorer fine movement precision in tasks requiring pencil, scissors and paper. No sex-specific vulnerability was reported in any of the outcomes.
These results at school aged expand those previously reported in the same cohort during infancy at age 7- and 18 months, and corroborate the negative effects of chlordecone exposure on fine motor function in absence of intoxication. Our results support the need to continue public health efforts aimed at reducing exposure especially among women of child bearing age and young children.
开蓬是一种有机氯化合物，曾在法属西印度群岛的瓜德罗普岛和马提尼克岛大量用作杀虫剂，以控制一种根蛀虫——香蕉象甲（Cosmopolites sordidus）。研究表明，其分子在环境中具有很强的持久性，土壤污染导致水源和食物受到污染的情况会持续数十年。我们的团队之前曾报告，在婴儿期的两个时间点，产前接触开蓬与较差的精细运动发育之间存在关联。
记录之前报告的产前接触开蓬的影响是否持续到儿童中期，以及在视觉处理领域是否观察到有害影响。还研究了与产后接触的关联以及性别特异性易感性。
我们对瓜德罗普岛TIMOUN母婴队列中的410名7岁儿童进行了检查。在脐带血和儿童7岁时的血液中测量了开蓬和其他环境污染物的浓度。使用布鲁因inks奥塞雷茨基运动能力测试第二版（BOT-2）评估精细运动功能。使用计算机自适应测试系统（CATSYS）评估姿势性手部震颤，同时使用斯坦福-比奈临摹（S-B临摹）测试测量非语言视觉空间处理能力。我们使用调整后的多元线性回归来测试儿童得分与连续和分类血液开蓬浓度之间的关系，并在连续模型中加入儿童性别作为调节变量。
脐带血开蓬浓度与双手细微手部震颤的规律频率模式相关，与视觉处理和精细运动精度无关。测试时采集的血液样本中的开蓬浓度与临摹几何图形时较差的视觉处理能力相关，但与需要铅笔、剪刀和纸张的任务中较差的精细运动精度无显著关联。在任何结果中均未报告性别特异性易感性。
这些学龄期的结果扩展了之前在同队列中7个月和18个月婴儿期报告的结果，并证实了在没有中毒的情况下，接触开蓬对精细运动功能的负面影响。我们的结果支持继续开展公共卫生工作以减少接触的必要性，特别是在育龄妇女和幼儿中。
