Mainly used in the agricultural world, organophosphate pesticides (Malathion, Parathion, Chlorpyrifos, Diazinon) are neurotoxic insecticides which kill insects and worms. They also have domestic use: they are found in certain treatments against lice or fleas in animals. *
According to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California (in the United States), a significant prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides would however have consequences on the health of the unborn child, in particular at the level of the brain.
The researchers worked with 95 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 who had always lived in the state of California. Twenty years earlier, other researchers had assessed their mothers’ exposure to organophosphate pesticides using official data from the California Pesticide Use Reporting Program.
Organophosphate pesticides impact the brain
The adolescents were examined using near infrared spectroscopic imaging (fISPI), a technique that consists of observing the blood flow in the brain and therefore, the oxygenation of different regions of the brain.
Verdict? American researchers noticed that adolescents who had undergone significant prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides had less oxygenation of the prefrontal cortex (which is involved in language, reasoning, visual memory, etc.) but greater blood flow to the body. level of the temporal lobe (long-term memory, hearing …) and the parietal lobe (five senses, attention …).
The researchers explain this imbalance by a potential compensation of the brain, which would “work” more at the level of the parietal and temporal lobes to compensate for a “loss” at the level of the prefrontal cortex, this one being undoubtedly related to the important prenatal exposure to the. organophosphate pesticides.
This work has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
* Source: School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP)
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