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Placental transfer and concentrations of cadmium, mercury, lead, and selenium in mothers, newborns, and young children

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 24, pages 537–544 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

There is an emerging hypothesis that exposure to cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and selenium (Se) in utero and early childhood could have long-term health consequences. However, there are sparse data on early life exposures to these elements in US populations, particularly in urban minority samples. This study measured levels of Cd, Hg, Pb, and Se in 50 paired maternal, umbilical cord, and postnatal blood samples from the Boston Birth Cohort (BBC). Maternal exposure to Cd, Hg, Pb, and Se was 100% detectable in red blood cells (RBCs), and there was a high degree of maternal–fetal transfer of Hg, Pb, and Se. In particular, we found that Hg levels in cord RBCs were 1.5 times higher than those found in the mothers. This study also investigated changes in concentrations of Cd, Hg, Pb, and Se during the first few years of life. We found decreased levels of Hg and Se but elevated Pb levels in early childhood. Finally, this study investigated the association between metal burden and preterm birth and low birthweight. We found significantly higher levels of Hg in maternal and cord plasma and RBCs in preterm or low birthweight births, compared with term or normal birthweight births. In conclusion, this study showed that maternal exposure to these elements was widespread in the BBC, and maternal–fetal transfer was a major source of early life exposure to Hg, Pb, and Se. Our results also suggest that RBCs are better than plasma at reflecting the trans-placental transfer of Hg, Pb, and Se from the mother to the fetus. Our study findings remain to be confirmed in larger studies, and the implications for early screening and interventions of preconception and pregnant mothers and newborns warrant further investigation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all of the study participants, and the Boston Medical Center Labor and Delivery Nursing Staff for their support and help with the study. We thank Lingling Fu, MS, for data management, and Ann Ramsey for administrative support. We are also grateful for the dedication and hard work of the field team at the Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine. The Boston Birth Cohort (the parent study) is supported in part by the March of Dimes PERI grants (20-FY02-56, 21-FY07-605), the Food Allergy Initiative, the Department of Defense (W81XWH-10-1-0123), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants (R21 ES011666, R01 HD041702, R21HD066471, R21AI088609, U01AI090727).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population, Center on the Early Life Origins of Disease, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Zhu Chen, Guoying Wang, Yuelong Ji, Xiumei Hong, Deanna Caruso & Xiaobin Wang

  2. Division of Environmental Chemistry Laboratories Administration, Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, Trace Metals Laboratory, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Robert Myers, Taiyin Wei, Eric Bind & Prince Kassim

  3. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Research Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Tami Bartell

  4. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA

    Yiwei Gong

  5. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Paul Strickland & Ana Navas-Acien

  6. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Ana Navas-Acien & Eliseo Guallar

  7. Division of General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Xiaobin Wang

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  1. Zhu Chen
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Chen, Z., Myers, R., Wei, T. et al. Placental transfer and concentrations of cadmium, mercury, lead, and selenium in mothers, newborns, and young children. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 24, 537–544 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.26

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