Drug used to arrest preterm labor sensitizes the brain to neurotoxicants.Rhodes MC, Seidler FJ, Qiao D, Tate CA, Cousins MM, Slotkin TA. 2004. Does pharmacotherapy for preterm labor sensitize sen·si·tize v. To make hypersensitive or reactive to an antigen, such as pollen, especially by repeated exposure. the developing brain to environmental neurotoxicants? Cellular and synaptic effects of sequential exposure to terbutaline terbutaline /ter·bu·ta·line/ (ter-bu´tah-len) a ß agonist; used as the sulfate salt as a bronchodilator and as a tocolytic in the prevention of premature labor. and chlorpyrifos in neonatal rats. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 195:203-217. A growing body of evidence suggests that exposure to environmental toxicants in utero or very early after birth can have life-long effects. This phenomenon is referred to as the fetal basis of adult disease. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases are but a few of the illnesses that have been suggested as possible effects from early-life exposures, Recently, NIEHS NIEHS National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH, DHHS) grantee An individual to whom a transfer or conveyance of property is made. In a case involving the sale of land, the buyer is commonly known as the grantee. grantee n. Theodore A. Slotkin of Duke University Medical Center and his colleagues investigated how separate and combined exposures to terbutaline, a drug used to arrest preterm labor, and to the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos affect several indices of brain cell growth and function. Premature labor occurs in approximately 20% of all U.S, pregnancies, with preterm delivery--a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality--occurring in nearly half these cases. Drugs to arrest preterm labor, particularly terbutaline, are used in as many as 1 million pregnancies annually. Chlorpyrifos, a known developmental neurotoxicant, is used worldwide. Rat pups were given terbutaline on days 2-5 after birth, followed by chlorpyrifos on days 11-14. Neither treatment affected the growth or viability of the young rats; however, both elicited alterations in brain cell differentiation and cholinergic cholinergic /cho·lin·er·gic/ (ko?lin-er´jik) 1. parasympathomimetic; stimulated, activated, or transmitted by choline (acetylcholine); said of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve fibers that liberate acetylcholine at a innervation innervation /in·ner·va·tion/ (in?er-va´shun) 1. the distribution or supply of nerves to a part. 2. the supply of nervous energy or of nerve stimulation sent to a part. at day 15, persisting into adulthood at day 60. Biomarkers of brain cell number, cell size, and neuritic projections were affected by both agents alone. However, the combined exposure produced more severe effects by both additive and synergistic mechanisms. These findings suggest that terbutaline, like chlorpyrifos, is a developmental neurotoxicant. The authors conclude that the use of terbutaline to prevent preterm labor may be creating a subpopulation sub·pop·u·la·tion n. A part or subdivision of a population, especially one originating from some other population: microbial subpopulations. Noun 1. that is more sensitive to the adverse neural effects of organophosphate pesticides. Further studies are needed to repeat these findings, but if the results are confirmed, use of these compounds may warrant additional scrutiny. |
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