(Press-News.org) San Diego, CA--Exposure during pregnancy to a combination of fire retardant chemicals and phthalate chemicals--both present in the average home--can contribute to autistic-like behaviors in the offspring, according to an animal study to be presented Thursday at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego.
"Our research points to potentially preventable causes of autism, which remains a diagnosis with enormous social costs and limited solutions," said lead study author Stephanie Degroote, MSc, a PhD student at the University of Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
Phthalates and brominated fire retardants are known endocrine disruptors, substances that can impair processes controlled by hormones. Past studies have suggested that exposure in the womb to either phthalates or flame retardants can affect mental and motor development and can provoke attention deficit. However, pregnant women are likely to come into contact with both chemicals simultaneously. They are common additives in many household plastic products, and flame retardants are on most furniture foam cushions.
The researchers wanted to know what the combined effect of these endocrine disruptors would be on the developing brain in mammals. Their study was performed in young rats, called rat pups, divided into three groups: (1) 28 pups whose pregnant mothers received low doses (by tube feeding) of a mixture of various phthalates and brominated flame retardants, (2) 20 unexposed pups and (3) 18 pups given valproic acid, a drug that induces autism in humans and autistic-like behavior in rats.
Degroote and co-workers found that the rat pups whose pregnant mothers received the chemical mixture showed behaviors similar to those seen in humans with autism spectrum disorders. These animals, according to Degroote, had reduced social interactions and increased, hyperactive movements compared with unexposed pups. In general, males were more affected than females were and demonstrated less maternal bonding than their female counterparts did.
The third group, which served as a rat model of autism, had similar abnormal behaviors, including general developmental delay, the investigators reported.
The work received funding from the Foundation of Stars in Montreal and from the University of Sherbrooke's Center of Excellence in Mother-Child Research (Centre d'excellence de l'Université de Sherbrooke en recherche mére-enfant).
Many environmental factors and genes likely cause autism spectrum disorders, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. These disorders affect boys more often than girls.
"Our research finds that the developing brain is extremely sensitive to chemical additives found in our daily environment, and these chemical can contribute to the development of autism," Degroote said. "The good news is that these exposures are avoidable, contrary to genetic risk factors, which are almost always not modifiable."
INFORMATION:
Founded in 1916, the Endocrine Society is the world's oldest, largest and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. Today, the Endocrine Society's membership consists of over 18,000 scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. Society members represent all basic, applied and clinical interests in endocrinology. The Endocrine Society is based in Washington, DC. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at http://www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/EndoMedia.
SAN DIEGO, CA and BRUSSELS, BELGIUM-A new economic analysis found exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals likely costs the European Union €157 billion ($209 billion) a year in actual health care expenses and lost earning potential, according to a new series of studies published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
The authors presented the findings today at simultaneous press events at ENDO 2015, the Endocrine Society's 97th Annual Meeting & Expo, and in Brussels, Belgium.
Global experts in this field concluded that ...
San Diego, CA--Male partners of infertile obese females may increase the odds of conceiving a child by improving their own weight and dietary habits, preliminary results from a pilot study from Canada suggest. The results will be presented Thursday, March 5, at ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego.
"We were thrilled to observe a significant relationship between some dietary changes and weight loss in men with the occurrence of a conception, when we compared the men in couples who conceived with those who did not," said lead author Matea ...
San Diego, CA--The composition of intestinal bacteria and other micro-organisms--called the gut microbiota--changes over time in unhealthy ways in black men who are prediabetic, a new study finds. The results will be presented Friday at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego.
Researchers previously found that the gut microbiota--containing both beneficial and harmful microbes--can affect human health in many ways and that the mix of this community of microscopic organisms differs in people with Type 2 diabetes compared with healthy individuals. However, ...
San Diego, CA--A synthetic nasal formulation of the hormone oxytocin reduced caloric intake in healthy men, particularly consumption of fatty foods, after a single treatment, a new study finds. The results, to be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego, confirm those of animal studies showing oxytocin reduces food intake.
Oxytocin nasal spray reportedly lowered the number of calories men consumed at a subsequent breakfast whether they were normal weight or overweight. In addition, the researchers found that oxytocin improved metabolic ...
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have, for the first time, spotted four images of a distant exploding star. The images are arranged in a cross-shaped pattern by the powerful gravity of a foreground galaxy embedded in a massive cluster of galaxies. The supernova discovery paper will appear on 6 March 2015 in a special issue of Science celebrating the centenary of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Whilst looking closely at a massive elliptical galaxy and its associated galaxy cluster MACS J1149+2223 -- whose light took over 5 billion years ...
San Diego, CA--A new soybean oil genetically modified to be healthier than conventional soybean oil causes obesity, pre-diabetes and fatty liver in a nearly identical manner to that of regular soybean oil when part of a typical American high-fat diet, an animal study shows. The study results will be presented Friday at The Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego.
The recently introduced high-oleic soybean oil (Plenish, from DuPont Pioneer) had not been tested for long-term metabolic effects until this study, said the senior investigator, Frances Sladek, PhD, ...
A pilot study in 51 N.C. classrooms shows the effectiveness of a new measure in assessing the quality of practices in inclusive preschools. Not only is the Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) a reliable instrument, researchers say it also reveals the types of inclusive settings that may be best serving preschoolers with disabilities.
"Inclusion encourages active participation and a sense of belonging and membership for all children, with and without disabilities, who learn and develop in the same classroom," explained the study's lead author Elena P. Soukakou, senior lecturer ...
New York University chemists have developed a computational approach for determining the viability and suitability of complex molecular structures--an advancement that could aid in the development of pharmaceuticals as well as a range of other materials.
"Understanding how molecules interact and achieve stable conformations in different environments is vital to many industries," says Mark Tuckerman, a professor in NYU's Department of Chemistry and the senior author of the study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "However, the ...
Scientists from the University of Southampton have found that ocean tides have changed significantly over the last century at many coastal locations around the world.
Increases in high tide levels and the tidal range were found to have been similar to increases in average sea level at several locations.
The findings of the study are published online in the journal Earth's Future.
It is well documented that global average sea levels are rising; but tide levels, have generally been considered to have undergone little change on decadal time scales. It is also often ...
New Haven, Conn. - For once, slower is better in a new piece of technology.
A Yale lab has developed a new, radio frequency processing device that allows information to be controlled more effectively, opening the door to a new generation of signal processing on microchips. One of the keys to the technology involves slowing information down.
The new system, described in the March 5 edition of the journal Nature Communications, combines photons and phonons -- electromagnetic energy and sound energy -- to conduct sophisticated signal processing tasks by harnessing the properties ...
