Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Department for Health Studies, University of Zadar, 23000 Zadar, Croatia.
Biomolecules. 2020 May 27;10(6):821. doi: 10.3390/biom10060821.
The main source of mercury (Hg) exposure in the general population is fish. Another possible source is dental amalgam. Here, we compare the levels of Hg and selenium (Se) in samples of maternal and fetal origin collected shortly after childbirth of healthy postpartum women in the coastal ( = 96) and continental ( = 185) areas of Croatia related to maternal seafood/fish consumption. We also evaluated Hg concentrations and maternal serum metallothionein (MT2) concentrations in relation to the number of dental amalgam fillings, and -5A/G (rs28366003) polymorphism. The levels of Hg and Se in maternal hair and blood/serum, placenta and cord blood/serum increased in relation to increasing fish consumption with the highest values in subjects from the coast. The concentrations of each element and between elements correlated across the matrices. Increasing amalgam number correlated linearly with increased Hg levels in maternal and cord serum and was not associated with serum MT2. No association of -5A/G polymorphism and Hg or Se levels were found. The results confirmed higher fish consumption in coastal vs. continental Croatia and increases of both Hg and Se related to fish consumption in all analyzed samples. Increased blood Hg reflected the predominant MeHg share from seafood, while increased serum Hg matched exposure from dental amalgams.
人群中汞（Hg）暴露的主要来源是鱼类。另一个可能的来源是汞合金。在这里，我们比较了克罗地亚沿海（=96）和大陆（=185）地区产后健康妇女分娩后不久采集的母体和胎儿来源样本中 Hg 和硒（Se）的水平，这些妇女与母体海鲜/鱼类消费有关。我们还评估了与汞合金填充物数量以及 -5A/G（rs28366003）多态性相关的 Hg 浓度和母体血清金属硫蛋白（MT2）浓度。随着鱼类消费的增加，母体头发和血液/血清、胎盘和脐带血/血清中的 Hg 和 Se 水平相应增加，沿海地区的含量最高。各元素之间以及元素之间的浓度存在相关性。汞合金数量的增加与母体和脐带血清中 Hg 水平的线性增加相关，与血清 MT2 无关。未发现-5A/G 多态性与 Hg 或 Se 水平之间存在关联。研究结果证实，与克罗地亚大陆相比，沿海地区的鱼类消费更高，所有分析样本中 Hg 和 Se 的水平均呈上升趋势。血液 Hg 的增加反映了来自海鲜的主要 MeHg 份额，而血清 Hg 的增加则与来自汞合金的暴露相匹配。
