Master of Public Health Degree Program, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, No. 17, Xu-Zhou Road, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.
Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Science, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, No. 17, Xu-Zhou Road, Taipei 10055, Taiwan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jun 1;17(11):3920. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17113920.
Heavy metals, the common pollutants emitted from industrial activities, are believed to cause harmful effects, partially through the mechanism of elevated oxidative stress, and antioxidant intake has been hypothesized to provide a potential protective effect against oxidative stress. This study aims to investigate the heavy metal exposure and the associated oxidative damage of young children living near a petrochemical complex and to assess the protective effect of antioxidant intake. There were 168 children recruited from the kindergartens near a huge petrochemical complex, with 87 as the high exposure group and 81 as the low exposure group. Urinary concentrations of eleven metals were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and four biomarkers of oxidative stress were measured in urine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The food frequency questionnaire was collected to assess participants' intake of antioxidants. Multiple linear regression was performed to determine the predictors of metals for oxidative stress and to measure the beneficial effect of antioxidants. Weighted quantile sum regression was performed to determine the contributors among metals to the oxidative stress. Results showed that high exposure group had significantly higher concentrations of chromium, manganese, nickel, arsenic, strontium, cadmium, and lead when compared to those in low exposure group. There was no obviously difference on the total antioxidant intake and dietary profile between two groups. The elevated levels of two oxidative stress markers were significantly associated with most of the urinary metal concentrations in all study subjects after adjusting confounders, while no significant association was found between oxidative stress and antioxidant intake. Among the metals, mercury and strontium showed the dominated contributions for elevated levels of oxidative stress. It concluded that higher metal exposure was associated with elevated oxidative stress but with no protective effect by antioxidant intake among the young children residents near a petrochemical industry.
重金属是工业活动排放的常见污染物，据信会造成有害影响，部分是通过氧化应激升高的机制，而抗氧化剂的摄入被假设为提供针对氧化应激的潜在保护作用。本研究旨在调查生活在石化综合体附近的幼儿的重金属暴露情况及其与氧化损伤的关联，并评估抗氧化剂摄入的保护作用。从一个巨大的石化综合体附近的幼儿园招募了 168 名儿童，其中 87 名作为高暴露组，81 名作为低暴露组。通过电感耦合等离子体质谱法检测了 11 种金属的尿浓度，并用液相色谱-串联质谱法测量了尿中 4 种氧化应激生物标志物。通过食物频率问卷收集了参与者的抗氧化剂摄入量。采用多元线性回归确定金属对氧化应激的预测因子，并测量抗氧化剂的有益效果。采用加权分位数和回归法确定金属中对氧化应激有贡献的因素。结果表明，与低暴露组相比，高暴露组的铬、锰、镍、砷、锶、镉和铅浓度显著升高。两组之间的总抗氧化剂摄入量和饮食模式没有明显差异。在调整混杂因素后，所有研究对象的两种氧化应激标志物的升高水平与大多数尿金属浓度显著相关，而氧化应激与抗氧化剂摄入之间无显著关联。在这些金属中，汞和锶对氧化应激水平升高的贡献最大。研究得出结论，高金属暴露与氧化应激升高有关，但在石化工业附近的幼儿中，抗氧化剂摄入没有保护作用。
