Evaluate levels of 18 toxic and/or essential trace elements exposure in maternal and cord plasma during pregnancy at advanced maternal age

Abstract

Pregnant women with advanced maternal age (AMA) are vulnerable to the surrounding environment exposure. Assessment of the trace elements in pregnant women living in specific areas is important for biomonitoring. However, the exposure levels and variation pattern of elements’ exposure during pregnancy is still controversial and attracting extensive public concern. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate exposure of 18 toxic and/or essential trace elements’ exposure in maternal plasma during pregnancy of AMA and in paired cord plasma. A total of 48 pregnant women with AMA were recruited in Peking University Third Hospital from 2018 to 2021. 18 elements of Maternal plasma in 1st, 2nd, 3rd pregnancy and paired cord plasma were measured by 7700x ICP-MS (Agilent Technologies, USA) and Elan DRC type II ICP-MS (The Perkin-Elmer Corporation, USA). Concentrations of Pb, Se, Fe, Zn, Mo all decreased during pregnancy, while Cu increased in the opposite. Interestingly, concentrations of Rb decreased first but subsequently increased. Elements as Al, Co, Se, Cu, Ni showed significantly lower levels in cord than in maternal plasma, while elements as Sr, Fe, Rb, Mn, Zn displayed significantly higher levels in cord than in maternal plasma. What’s more, positively-interacted clusters were found in Ni-Co-Cu-Al-Rb-Zn and Zn-Mn-Al-Pb in maternal blood. Similar positively-interacted clusters were found in Zn-Ni-Co, Zn-Ni-Fe, Mn-Al-Pb, Fe-Pb-Mn, Fe-Ni-Cu and Rb-Cu-Sb-Fe-Mn in cord plasma. Last but not least, correlations between paired maternal and cord blood samples for As, Sr and Mo were statistically significant, indicating that the fetus burden might reflect the maternal exposure to some extent. Admittedly, levels of toxic and essential elements in our cohort study were comparatively lower in the scientific literature.