# Dynamics of Endocrine Disruptor Exposure in Early Life: A Mother–Infant Hair Biomonitoring Study

## TL;DR

This study tracks exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals in mothers and infants using hair samples, revealing how exposure levels change from birth to ten months.

## Contribution

The study introduces hair biomonitoring to assess endocrine disruptor exposure in mother-infant pairs over time.

## Key findings

- Infants had higher bisphenol S levels than mothers at 10 months, indicating postnatal exposure.
- Infants had higher triclosan levels at birth, which decreased by follow-up.
- Mothers consistently had higher paraben levels than infants at both time points.

## Abstract

Background: Fetal and postnatal development appears to be influenced in multiple ways by exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). We used hair biomonitoring to assess the burden of selected EDCs—bisphenol S (BPS), parabens (PBs), triclosan (TCS), and organochlorine pollutants—in pregnant women and their children at birth and at ten months of follow-up. Methods: Hair samples were collected from pregnant women in Crete at delivery and from their infants shortly after birth and during follow-up. The assessment of EDCs’ burden was performed using liquid and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS, GC-MS). Results: Pregnant mothers had higher BPS levels than their infants at birth, whereas at 10 months’ follow-up, infants exhibited markedly higher BPS concentrations than both their birth levels and the maternal levels, indicating increasing postnatal exposure. Infants at birth had higher TCS levels than their mothers; these levels then declined at follow-up. In contrast, mothers contained higher levels of MeP, EthP, BenP, and ButP levels than those of infants, either at birth or at ten months’ follow-up. Organochlorine compounds were present at low but measurable levels. Significant pairwise comparisons were observed for some of the EDC analytes, mostly between mothers and their infants and between mothers and infants at follow-up. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate constant, compound-specific, and time-dependent EDC burdens, highlighting the importance of prenatal EDC exposure in infants at birth and at ten months’ follow-up compared to that of mothers.