PFAS levels in mothers’ blood associated with children’s brain structure and function
Researchers from the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Finland, and Örebro University, Sweden, have discovered that the levels of PFAS in mothers’ blood during pregnancy is associated with their children’s brain structure and function.
In recent years, researchers have found associations between the levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in mothers’ blood during pregnancy, and their children’s neurodevelopmental outcomes. A recent study led by the University of Turku, Finland, expands on this by demonstrating that maternal PFAS predict their children’s brain structural and functional outcomes.
PFAS are man-made chemicals used in manufacturing products resistant to water, oil, temperature, or electrical conductivity, such as cooking utensils, clothes, furniture, food packaging, flooring, dental floss, and firefighting foams. Similar to plastics, they are non-biodegradable, and have been nicknamed “forever chemicals” for this reason. They are now found in all ecosystems on earth, and their presence in the soil is estimated to last for over 1,000 years.
“We were able to measure seven different PFAS in this study, and found that individual compounds had specific associations with offspring brain structure, and in some cases two different PFAS had opposite relationships with the same brain region,” explains Professor Tuulia Hyötyläinen from Örebro University.
The study was published on 10 October 2025 in The Lancet Planetary Health, and was funded by the EU Horizon Europe programme project “Inflammation in human early life: targeting impacts on life-course health” INITIALISE.
INITIALISE (Inflammation in human early life: targeting impacts on life-course health) is an EU funded project that aims to elucidate how exposures and genome impact gut microbiome, host immune system and metabolism, and how the interplay of these factors impact life-course health. INITIALISE aims to define the role of the maturation of the immune system as a mediator between exposures and life-course health. Turku Bioscience PIs Riitta Lahesmaa, Matej Oresic and affiliated PI Mikael Knip are partners of the project. INITIALISE website>>
Recent Posts
- Professor Laura Elo receives award for outstanding research from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation The Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation awarded Professor of Computational Medicine Laura Elo a €50,000 Read moreOctober 10, 2025
- Recruit your next student at the MSc Thesis Project Expo 2025. Registration is now open! Do you supervise MSc theses in the biosciences? Join the MSc Thesis Project Expo on Read moreOctober 10, 2025
- University of Turku celebrates Professor Shimon Sakaguchi’s Nobel prize Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine, is a visiting professor Read moreOctober 7, 2025
- Heidi Isokääntä Successfully Defends Dissertation on Gut Microbiome Development Heidi Isokääntä Successfully Defends Dissertation on Gut Microbiome Deveopment Turku, 26 September 2025 – Bioanalyst Read moreSeptember 29, 2025
- University of Jyväskylä to Award Honorary Doctorate to Johanna Ivaska The University of Jyväskylä will award 11 new honorary doctorates in May 2026. One of Read moreSeptember 26, 2025
- Turku Metabolomics Core Enhances MALDI Imaging with New Sprayer The Turku Metabolomics Core, part of the Turku Bioscience Centre, has acquired a SunCollect MALDI Read moreSeptember 19, 2025