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Infant toenails as a biomarker of in utero arsenic exposure

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 24, pages 467–473 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

A growing body of evidence suggests that in utero and early-life exposure to arsenic may have detrimental effects on children, even at the low to moderate levels common in the United States and elsewhere. In a sample of 170 mother–infant pairs from New Hampshire, we determined infant exposure to in utero arsenic by evaluating infant toenails as a biomarker using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Infant toenail arsenic concentration correlated with maternal postpartum toenail concentrations (Spearman’s correlation coefficient 0.34). In adjusted linear models, a doubling of maternal toenail arsenic concentration was associated with a 53.8% increase in infant toenail arsenic concentration as compared with 20.4% for a doubling of maternal urine arsenic concentration. In a structural equation model, a doubling of the latent variable integrating maternal toenail and urine arsenic concentrations was associated with a 67.5% increase in infant toenail arsenic concentration. A similar correlation between infant and maternal postpartum toenail concentrations was observed in a validation cohort of 130 mother–infant pairs from Rhode Island. In utero exposure to arsenic occurs through maternal water and dietary sources, and infant toenails appear to be a reliable biomarker for estimating arsenic exposure during the critical window of gestation.

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Abbreviations

AsIII+:

arsenite

AsV+:

arsenate

BMI:

body mass index

DMA:

dimethylarsinic acid

HPLC:

high performance liquid chromatography

iAs:

inorganic arsenic

ICPMS:

inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

LoWeSS:

locally weighted scatterplot smoothing

MMA:

monomethylarsonic acid

NHBCS:

New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study

RICHS:

Rhode Island Child Health Study

SEM:

structural equation modeling

TEA:

Trace Element Analysis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants P20 ES018175, P01 ES022832, and R01 ES022223 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH); grant R25CA134286 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH; and RD-83459901 and RD-83544201 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and grant R01 MH094609 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). MA Davis was supported by Award Number K01AT006162 from the NIH. The NIEHS, NIMH, NIH, NCI, and EPA were not involved in the design and conduct of the study or collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data. The contents of this manuscript are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS, NIMH, NIH, NCI, and EPA. In addition, the EPA does not endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in the publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Matthew A Davis, Zhigang Li, Diane Gilbert-Diamond, Kathryn L Cottingham, Brian P Jackson, Emily R Baker, Carmen J Marsit & Margaret R Karagas

  2. Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Matthew A Davis

  3. Department of Community and Family Medicine, Section of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Zhigang Li, Diane Gilbert-Diamond, Todd A Mackenzie & Margaret R Karagas

  4. Department of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Todd A Mackenzie

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Kathryn L Cottingham

  6. Trace Element Analysis Core Laboratory, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Brian P Jackson

  7. Rhode Island Child Health Study, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Joyce S Lee & Carmen J Marsit

  8. Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

    Emily R Baker

  9. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Carmen J Marsit

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  1. Matthew A Davis
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Correspondence to Margaret R Karagas.

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Davis, M., Li, Z., Gilbert-Diamond, D. et al. Infant toenails as a biomarker of in utero arsenic exposure. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 24, 467–473 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.38

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