School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China.
School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China; Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle (Anhui Medical University), Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China; Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health and Aristogenics / Key Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Anhui Medical University; No 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China.
Environ Res. 2022 Aug;211:113072. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113072. Epub 2022 Mar 10.
Early embryonic arrest is a great challenge for in vitro fertilization. Whether exposure to toxic metals is associated with an increased risk of early embryonic arrest warrants investigation.
Here, we conducted a case-control study in infertile women to estimate the associations between blood barium (Ba), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb) exposure levels and the risk of early embryonic arrest.
Ba, As, Hg, and Pb exposure levels in fasting blood collected from 74 infertile women (123 cycles) with early embryonic arrest and 157 infertile women (180 cycles) without early embryonic arrest were measured by ICP-MS. Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) was used to assess the association of exposure level of toxic metals mixture with the risk of early embryonic arrest as well as to evaluate which metal playing a leading role in the association, and then generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to evaluate the relationship between the selected harmful metal and the risk of early embryonic arrest. Finally, the potential causes of early embryonic arrest originating from the harmful metal exposure were explored.
Blood Ba levels were significantly higher in the case group than that in the control group (p = 0.009) rather than As, Pb and Hg. Results from BKMR showed that exposure to toxic metals mixture increased the risk of early embryonic arrest, with Ba playing a leading role (PIP = 0.9612). GEE analysis showed that high Ba exposure level was related with the increased risk of early embryonic arrest (p < 0.05) and it impacted on the oogenesis significantly.
Our study found that exposure to toxic metals mixture was associated with the increased risk of early embryonic arrest, and Ba contributed most to the increased risk. Higher Ba exposure in whole blood corresponds to a higher risk of early embryonic arrest and impacted on the oogenesis significantly.
早期胚胎停育是体外受精的一大挑战。接触有毒金属是否会增加早期胚胎停育的风险值得研究。
本研究通过病例对照研究，估算了不孕女性血液中钡（Ba）、砷（As）、汞（Hg）和铅（Pb）暴露水平与早期胚胎停育风险之间的关系。
采用电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）检测了 74 例（123 个周期）有早期胚胎停育的不孕妇女和 157 例（180 个周期）无早期胚胎停育的不孕妇女空腹血中 Ba、As、Hg 和 Pb 的暴露水平。贝叶斯核机器回归（BKMR）用于评估有毒金属混合物暴露水平与早期胚胎停育风险的关系，以及评估哪种金属在这种关系中起主导作用，然后采用广义估计方程（GEE）评估选定有害金属与早期胚胎停育风险的关系。最后，探讨了有害金属暴露导致早期胚胎停育的潜在原因。
病例组的血液 Ba 水平明显高于对照组（p=0.009），而 As、Pb 和 Hg 则不然。BKMR 结果表明，有毒金属混合物的暴露增加了早期胚胎停育的风险，其中 Ba 起主导作用（PIP=0.9612）。GEE 分析表明，高 Ba 暴露水平与早期胚胎停育风险增加有关（p<0.05），并对卵母细胞发育有显著影响。
本研究发现，接触有毒金属混合物与早期胚胎停育风险增加有关，其中 Ba 对风险增加的贡献最大。全血中较高的 Ba 暴露水平与早期胚胎停育风险增加相关，并对卵母细胞发育有显著影响。
