Exposure to plasticizers leaching from plastic medical devices in Neonatal Intensive Care and impact on the long-term neurocognitive and pulmonary development.

- Phthalates (i.e. DEHP) and alternative plasticizers (APs) are used in plastics to increase their elasticity and extend their lifetime. - Leaching of plasticizers from indwelling medical devices used in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) might expose neonates to these chemicals at levels far exceeding tolerable daily dose recommendations. - Although awareness of these plasticizers is growing, they are still used in many (most) medical devices even in the NICU. - Premature neonates are extremely vulnerable to external insults. - This project aims to explore the utility of levels of plasticizers and their metabolites in a keratinous non-invasive matrix (hair) and in urine as a diagnostic tool for cumulative and past exposure in the neonatal intensive care unit. - The possibility that this matrix can detect past and cumulative exposure in this vulnerable population is a novel approach and is expected to provide fresh insights into the detection of past exposure to these chemicals. - The studied plasticizers have toxic effects on neuronal and pulmonary cells, as proven in in vitro and in vivo (animal and human) models. - Based on these pathophysiological effects, we hypothesize that exposure to these plasticizers during the NICU stay contributes to the long-lasting impaired (neurocognitive and lung) development that is frequently observed in neonates after discharge from NICU.

Keywords:NEONATOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY, HUMAN POLLUTANTS EXPOSURE, PLASTICISERS

Disciplines:Intensive care and emergency medicine not elsewhere classified, Neonatology, Environmental health and safety, Analytical toxicology, Developmental neuroscience