Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by LILIENTHAL, H.
Right arrow Articles by WINNEKE, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by LILIENTHAL, H.
Right arrow Articles by WINNEKE, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1991 Oxford University Press

research-article

Sensitive Periods for Behavioral Toxicity of Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Determination by Cross-Fostering in Rats

HELLMUTH LILIENTHAL1 and GERHARD WINNEKE

Medical Institute of Environmental Hygiene, Department of Psychophysiology Auf'm Hennekamp 50, D-4000 Dilsseldorf, Germany

Received June 30, 1990; accepted March 29, 1991

Sensitive Periods for Behavioral Toxicity of Polychlorinated Biphenyls Determination by Crrss Fostering in Rats. LILIENTHAL, H., AND WINNEKE, G. (1991). Fundam. Appl. Toxicol 17.368–375. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are transfed to developing organisms via the milk rather than through placental barriers. Recent epidemiological data, however, suggest a greater importance of the prenatal exposure period for the development of neuropsychological disorders. The relative effectiveness of pre- and postnatal PCB exposure was compared in a cross-fostering experiment in rats. Female Wistar rats were fed diets containing 0 or 30 mg PCB/kg. After birth half of the litters in each exposure group were nursed by dams of the other condition. Six different congeners were determined in the brains of the offspring at various ages. Internal exposure to higher chlorinated congeners peaked at weaning in groups with postnatal or permanent exposure, whereas the concentration of a low-chlorinated compound was lower at weaning than at birth or at later age stages Brain tissue levels in prenatally treated rats declined with aging In two behavioral paradigm, active avoidance learning and retention of a visual discrimination task, prenatally exposed rats exhibited alterations similar to those of permanently treated subjects, while postnatal exposure caused no detectable behavioral changes. These results support the above-mentioned epidemiological studies which related neurodevelopmental deficits in children to prenatal PCB exposure.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.