PERSPECTIVES
Environmental pollution
Meconium analysis to detect fetal exposure to neurotoxicants
Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Hutzel Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr E M Ostrea
Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Hutzel Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, 3980 John R, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA; eostrea@med.wayne.edu
Second perspective on the paper by Ortega García et al (see page 642)
Keywords: meconium; fetus; chemical exposure; persistent organic pollutants; environmental health
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
An accurate detection of fetal exposure to drugs and other compounds (xenobiotics) is essential for studying the true prevalence of antenatal exposure to these compounds and their possible adverse effects on the fetus and infant. The ideal matrix to analyse is one that can be obtained non-invasively and is representative of a wide period of exposure of the fetus throughout gestation. Meconium is formed by the fetus as early as the 12th week of gestation, accumulates throughout pregnancy, and is normally excreted after birth by the infant. Throughout gestation, xenobiotics and their metabolites are principally deposited in meconium either directly from bile secretion or from fetal swallowing of amniotic fluid which contains these compounds which are excreted via the fetal urine. Meconium is therefore a repository of many of the xenobiotics that the fetus is exposed to throughout pregnancy and its analysis has consequently been used for the
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