Zhang Chuyan, Ruan Zheng, Dou Yifan, Sun Xian Liang, Xu Huadong, Jiang Zhaoqiang, Rao Xia, Wang Xinran, Nakayama Shoji F, Kido Teruhiko, Lou Jianlin
School of Public Health, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
School of Medicine, and The First Affiliated Hospital, Huzhou University, Huzhou, China; Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Health Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2025 Aug 25;303:118927. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118927.
Organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs), widely adopted as substitutes for restricted brominated flame retardants (BFRs), have emerged as significant environmental contaminants in regions burdened by electronic waste (e-waste) recycling activities. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between prenatal exposure to OPFRs and infant birth outcomes in an e-waste area. We used programmed-temperature vaporizer gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (PTV-GC/MS) to measure the concentrations of thirteen OPFRs in umbilical cord blood samples from 131 mother-infant pairs in Taizhou. The associations between seven of these OPFRs and infant birth outcomes, including birth weight and birth length, were analyzed. Multiple linear regression (MLR) was used to examine the relationship between each OPFR and the birth outcomes. Additionally, the Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) model was employed to evaluate the impact of mixed exposure to multiple OPFRs on birth outcomes. Both MLR and BKMR analyses revealed significant associations between prenatal exposure to specific OPFRs and infant birth outcomes. Trimethyl phosphate (TMP) was significantly associated with increased birth weight and decreased birth length in newborns overall, with these effects being more pronounced in male infants following gender-stratified analysis. Tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) demonstrated significant positive correlations with birth length in male infants and birth weight in female infants. Conversely, tripropyl phosphate (TPP) showed a negative correlation with birth length in male infants but a positive correlation in female infants. Furthermore, the BKMR model identified a nonlinear relationship between triethyl phosphate (TEP) and birth outcomes in male infants, suggesting potential interactions among TEP, TMP, TCEP, tributyl phosphate (TBP), and tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCPP). Our findings indicate that prenatal OPFR exposure can cross the placenta and may influence infant growth and development, with distinct gender-specific patterns in an e-waste area in China.
有机磷阻燃剂（OPFRs）作为受限溴化阻燃剂（BFRs）的替代品被广泛采用，在受电子垃圾（电子废弃物）回收活动影响的地区已成为重要的环境污染物。因此，本研究旨在调查电子垃圾污染地区产前暴露于OPFRs与婴儿出生结局之间的关系。我们使用程序升温蒸发器气相色谱 - 质谱联用仪（PTV - GC/MS）测定了来自台州131对母婴的脐带血样本中13种OPFRs的浓度。分析了其中7种OPFRs与婴儿出生结局（包括出生体重和出生身长）之间的关联。采用多元线性回归（MLR）来检验每种OPFR与出生结局之间的关系。此外，还使用贝叶斯核机器回归（BKMR）模型评估多种OPFRs混合暴露对出生结局的影响。MLR和BKMR分析均显示产前暴露于特定OPFRs与婴儿出生结局之间存在显著关联。磷酸三甲酯（TMP）总体上与新生儿出生体重增加和出生身长缩短显著相关，在按性别分层分析后，这些影响在男婴中更为明显。磷酸三（2 - 氯乙基）酯（TCEP）与男婴出生身长以及女婴出生体重呈显著正相关。相反，磷酸三丙酯（TPP）与男婴出生身长呈负相关，但与女婴出生身长呈正相关。此外，BKMR模型确定了磷酸三乙酯（TEP）与男婴出生结局之间存在非线性关系，表明TEP、TMP、TCEP、磷酸三丁酯（TBP）和磷酸三（2 - 氯异丙基）酯（TCPP）之间可能存在相互作用。我们的研究结果表明，产前OPFR暴露可穿过胎盘并可能影响婴儿的生长发育，在中国电子垃圾污染地区存在明显的性别特异性模式。
