La neurotoxicité développementale associée au méthylmercure, au plomb et aux
biphényles polychlorés : l’attention et le traitement visuel à l’étude

The deleterious impact of environmental contaminants (EC) has been extensively studied in acute exposure and poisoning events. What about the chronic exposure to lower doses on cognitive and sensory development of children? The longitudinal studies of this thesis were conducted in Nunavik. Although geographically distant from industrial centers, the Inuit community is exposed to EC via their transport by atmospheric and oceanic currents and their bioaccumulation in fish and sea mammals. Since traditional native foods, especially beluga meat, are still frequently consumed by this community, a substantial proportion of Inuit infants are exposed in utero to EC. Inuit children are also continuously exposed to these neurotoxic agents during postnatal development. The considerable variation in consumption of traditional food within this community provides an opportunity to investigate the relation between degree of exposure to EC and the effects on cognitive and sensory development of children. Although some deficits have already been related with chronic exposure to environmental contaminants in the literature, this thesis is interested more specifically at these relations in Inuit children living up North. Furthermore, the protocols that were developed for this thesis will evaluate new aspects related to EC, which are the visuospatial attention and the early brain visual processing.  The first part of this thesis was designed to assess the effect of three EC on visuospatial attention with a modified Posner paradigm (M.I. Posner, et al., 1980). This psychophysical task was administered to Inuit children (mean age = 11.2 years) for whom the levels of exposure to mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were documented for pre and postnatal periods. In utero exposures to Pb and PCBs were significantly associated with greater impulsivity and inattention, respectively, while current exposure to Pb was significantly associated with longer reaction times. Although no specific effect has been found on visuospatial attention, the results of this study suggest that exposure to EC is associated with decreased in general attentional abilities in children living in Nunavik.  In the second part, early brain processing of visual information was assessed using visual evoked potentials with children from the same community (mean age = 10.9 years). Cord blood Hg level measured at birth was associated with a reduction of the amplitude and an increase of the latency of the N75 component. Prenatal exposure to Pb was associated with a delay of the N150 latency. These results suggest that heavy metal exposure, in particular during the gestational period, is associated with alterations in visual development.   The results presented in this thesis support the hypothesis that the developing brain is vulnerable during a chronic exposure to EC, even at concentration levels below the limits recommended by public health agencies. The results also shed new light on cognitive and sensory deficits associated with EC.

Keyphrases: Inuit, Neurotoxicity, Mercury, Lead, Polychlorinated biphenyls, Visuospatial attention, Posner paradigm, Visual evoked potentials, Children, Development