Lactation, developmental neurotoxicity

In mice, exposure to DDT during gestation and in the neonatal stage has also caused developmental neurotoxicity, in the form of behavioral deficits in the learning process, that persisted into adulthood. Human studies have suggested that alterations in functions that are hormonally controlled such as duration of lactation, maintenance of pregnancy, and fertility may occur from DDT exposure. ... 

The exposure period in the developmental neurotoxicity study is during gestation and lactation, but not during the juvenile period until sexual maturation. The brain still undergoes development during the juvenile period, but effects induced during this period are... 

In animals, there is evidence of developmental effects following oral exposure to organic mercury during gestation, lactation, and/or postweaning. Increases in several parameters indicative of developmental toxicity have been observed. Not all studies have examined neurological end points, but developmental neurotoxicity has been observed at very low exposure levels. 

Yasuda et al. 1985). Thus far, the most sensitive animal assay for developmental neurotoxicity has been a behavioral paradigm that examined the number of rewarded responses to differential reinforcement at high rates (Bomhausen et al. 1980). At doses of 0.008 mg Hg/kg/day and above, a dose-related decrease in rewarded responses was observed in 4-month-old offspring of rats treated on Gd 6-9. The effect was more pronounced in male offspring than females. Foster mothers were used to preclude consumption of contaminated milk during lactation. 

Bowers WJ, Nakai JS, Wade MG, et al. Early developmental neurotoxicity of a PCB/organochlorine mixture in rodents after gestational and lactational exposure. Toxicol Sci2004 77 51-62. 

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