Li Han, Wang Mu, Liang Qiande, Jin Shuna, Sun Xiaojie, Jiang Yangqian, Pan Xingyun, Zhou Yanqiu, Peng Yang, Zhang Bin, Zhou Aifen, Zhang Yiming, Chen Zhong, Cao Jiangxia, Zhang Hongling, Xia Wei, Zheng Tongzhang, Cai Zongwei, Li Yuanyuan, Xu Shunqing
Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, China.
Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing 100850, China.
J Chromatogr A. 2017 Jan 6;1479:145-152. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2016.12.007. Epub 2016 Dec 10.
Arsenic exposure is considered a major environmental threat to human health. It is already known that high-level arsenic exposure has adverse effects on human health. Since the pregnant women are known to be more susceptible to some chemical exposures than ordinary people, the understanding regarding the health effects of low-level arsenic exposure on pregnant women is critical and remains unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the urinary metabolic changes of pregnant women exposed to low-dose arsenic, and to identify biomarkers from metabolomics analysis. Urine samples of 246 pregnant women were collected in the first trimester of pregnancy and were divided into three groups based on the tertile distribution of urinary arsenic concentrations which were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Changes in the metabolite profile were measured using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF MS). Arsenic- related metabolic biomarkers were investigated by comparing the samples of the first and third tertiles of arsenic exposure classifications using a partial least-squares discriminant model (PLS-DA). Nine urine potential biomarkers were putatively identified, including LysoPC (14:0), glutathione, 18-carboxy-dinor-LTE4, 20-COOH-LTE4, cystathionine ketimin, 1-(beta-d-ribofuranosyl)-1,4-dihydronicotinamide, thiocysteine, p-cresol glucuronide and vanillactic acid. The obtained results showed that environmental arsenic exposure, even at low levels, could cause metabolite alterations in pregnant women which might be associated with adverse health outcomes. This is the first report on metabolic changes in pregnant women for arsenic exposure. The findings may be valuable for the arsenic risk assessment for pregnant women.
砷暴露被认为是对人类健康的主要环境威胁。已知高剂量砷暴露会对人类健康产生不利影响。由于已知孕妇比普通人更容易受到某些化学物质暴露的影响，因此了解低剂量砷暴露对孕妇健康的影响至关重要，但仍不明确。本研究的目的是调查低剂量砷暴露孕妇的尿液代谢变化，并从代谢组学分析中确定生物标志物。在妊娠早期收集了246名孕妇的尿液样本，并根据使用电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）测定的尿砷浓度的三分位数分布将其分为三组。使用超高效液相色谱与四极杆飞行时间串联质谱（UPLC/Q-TOF MS）测量代谢物谱的变化。通过使用偏最小二乘判别模型（PLS-DA）比较砷暴露分类的第一和第三三分位数的样本，研究了与砷相关的代谢生物标志物。初步确定了9种尿液潜在生物标志物，包括溶血磷脂酰胆碱（14:0）、谷胱甘肽、18-羧基二降-LTE4、20-羧基-LTE4、胱硫醚酮亚胺、1-（β-D-呋喃核糖基）-1,4-二氢烟酰胺、硫代半胱氨酸、对甲酚葡萄糖醛酸和香草酸。所得结果表明，即使是低水平的环境砷暴露也可能导致孕妇代谢物改变，这可能与不良健康结果有关。这是关于砷暴露孕妇代谢变化的第一份报告。这些发现可能对孕妇的砷风险评估有价值。
