When PCBs act like thyroid hormone: mysterious mimicry in the fetal brain.(Science Selections) From: Environmental Health Perspectives | Date: April 1, 2004| Author: Renner, Rebecca | COPYRIGHT 2004 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Children exposed to relatively high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can have deficits in general intellectual ability, poor short-term memory, and short attention span. Some researchers propose that this may be caused by the ability of PCBs to interfere with thyroid hormone action. Thyroid hormone plays an important role in directing brain development, an action that is largely accomplished by binding to nuclear receptors that either amplify or dampen the expression of ge...