International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 215 (2012) 216–219 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health jou rn al h omepage: www.elsevier.de/ijheh Short communication Placental transfer of perfluorinated compounds is selective – A Norwegian Mother and Child sub-cohort study Kristine Bjerve Gützkow a,∗ , Line Småstuen Haug b , Cathrine Thomsen b , Azemira Sabaredzovic b , Georg Becher b , Gunnar Brunborg a a Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Chemical Toxicology, PO Box 4404 Nydalen, NO-0403 Oslo, Norway b Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Analytical Chemistry, PO Box 4404 Nydalen, NO-0403 Oslo, Norway a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Perfluorinated compounds Placental transfer Prenatal exposure PFOS isomers MoBa a b s t r a c t Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) comprise a large group of man-made fluorinated chemicals used in a number of consumer products and industrial applications. PFCs have shown to be persistent, bio- accumulative and widespread in the environment. Animal studies have demonstrated hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, developmental toxicity as well as hormonal effects. We investigated prenatal expo- sure to several PFCs and detected up to seven different PFCs in 123 paired samples of human maternal and cord blood, from a subcohort of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). The mater- nal and foetal levels were significantly correlated for all PFCs tested with median PFC concentrations in cord blood ranging between 30 and 79% of the maternal concentrations, demonstrating placental passage. The composition of the different PFCs varied between cord and maternal blood, with a higher proportion of shorter chained PFCs together with a higher amount of the branched isomers of perflu- orooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in cord blood. Additionally, the sulfonate group seems to impede transfer efficiency. This indicates a selective placental passage of the different PFCs and hence a specific foetal exposure. © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Introduction Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are synthetic fluorinated organic compounds. Due to their physical and chemical character- istics as water and oil repellents, PFCs are used in a wide variety of consumer products and industrial applications (Kissa, 2001). Several of the compounds are persistent and bio-accumulative and have been found widespread in the environment and wildlife (Kannan et al., 2001a,b). For humans, diet has been suggested to be the main route of exposure to PFCs (Fromme et al., 2009; Trudel et al., 2008; Vestergren and Cousins, 2009). However, a recent study from Norway demonstrated that the relative importance of expo- sure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) from the indoor environment varied and contributed considerably for several individuals (Haug et al., 2011). The contri- bution of PFOS through dust ingestion was estimated to be nearly as great as from food for two year old children in USA (Egeghy and Lorber, 2011). Animal studies have demonstrated hepatotoxicity, devel- opmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, carcinogenicity as well as ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +47 21076338; fax: +47 21076686. E-mail address: kristine.bjerve.gutzkow@fhi.no (K.B. Gützkow). hormonal effects from PFCs (Kennedy et al., 2004; Lau et al., 2007). Additionally, in utero exposure of mice and rats to PFOS, lead to poor litter size, reduced body weight and developmental delay in neuromotor maturation in the offspring (Fuentes et al., 2007; Lau et al., 2006; Luebker et al., 2005). In the human body, PFCs associate with fatty acid binding proteins in the liver or albumin proteins in blood (Han et al., 2003) and have been detected in human serum and breast milk from the past three decades (Haug et al., 2009a; Sundstrom et al., 2011). Detectable concentrations of PFCs in cord blood have been demonstrated (Apelberg et al., 2007a; Fromme et al., 2010; Inoue et al., 2004), and concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in cord blood were highly correlated with the corresponding concentrations in maternal serum at the time of delivery (Monroy et al., 2008). The sensitivity of newborns and children to adverse effects of PFCs is still not known, however, an inverse correlation between PFOS and PFOA and birth weight, ponderal index and head circumference has been reported (Apelberg et al., 2007b; Fei et al., 2007). These findings have been questioned and were critically reviewed (Olsen et al., 2009). Nevertheless, the effects of in utero exposure of PFCs in humans are yet an unexplored area and are of special concern as the foetus is highly vulnerable to toxicant exposure. The aim of this study was to measure concentrations of a wide range of PFCs in Norwegian mothers and their newborn babies 1438-4639/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2011.08.011