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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018
Long-term effects of lactational dioxin exposure on endocrine disruption and pubertal development at age 14: a
Oanh Thi Phuong Nguyen1, Mengyuan Jin2, Teruhiko Kido3
1School of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Abstract:
This study aimed to assess the lasting effects of early-life dioxin exposure via breastfeeding on the endocrine and reproductive health of children at 14 years of age, continuing a Vietnamese longitudinal cohort started in 2008. The participants were 68 mother-child pairs (38 from a dioxin hotspot and 30 from a non-exposure area). Serum steroid hormones in adolescents were quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and linked to their mother's breast milk dioxin congener levels collected within 4-16 weeks postpartum. Secondary sexual characteristics in girls and testicular volume in boys were clinically assessed. The results showed sex-specific differences. In girls from the hotspot, body weight and head circumference were significantly lower than those in the non-exposure area and showed negative correlations with specific dioxin congeners and steroid hormones. Hormonal analysis revealed significantly lower levels of estrone and estradiol, but higher cortisol levels, in both exposed genders. Estrone and estradiol displayed negative correlations with dioxins, stronger in girls. Conversely, cortisol showed positive correlations with most dioxin congeners and total toxic equivalents (TEQs) in boys only. Additionally, allopregnanolone levels were higher and positively correlated with dioxin in boys, while androstenedione and androstanediol were significantly lower in hotspot girls. Notably, testicular volume in boys did not differ or correlate with dioxin exposure. In conclusion, lactational dioxin exposure might associated with long-term, sex-specific disruption of steroid hormone homeostasis and impaired physical growth during puberty, particularly in girls.
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