Abstract
Exposure to copper, silver, and titanium has been reported to be associated with a variety of adverse effects on humans, but it is little focused on the fetus. We investigated the associations between prenatal exposure to the three metals (copper, silver, and titanium) and risk for fetal neural tube defects (NTDs). Placental samples from 408 women with pregnancies affected by NTDs and 593 women with normal pregnancies were collected from 2003 to 2016 in Pingding, Xiyang, Shouyang, Taigu, and Zezhou counties of China. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to evaluate the single and joint effects of the metals on NTDs. Silver was associated with an increased risk for NTDs in a dose–response fashion in single-metal logistic regression, with adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 1.78 (1.04–3.06) and 1.92 (1.11–3.32) in the second and third tertiles, respectively, compared to the lowest tertile. BKMR revealed toxic effects of silver on NTDs and the association appeared to be linear. No interaction of silver with any of the other two metals was observed. Besides, silver concentration was positively correlated with maternal certain dietary intakes. Placental high silver concentrations are associated with an elevated risk for NTDs. Maternal diet may be a source of silver exposure.
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The data and materials generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical and legal reasons but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the women who participated and the local healthcare staff who collected data and samples in the study.
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This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (grant nos. 2021YFC2701101 and 2021YFC2701001).
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Xin Pi and Chengrong Wang conducted the research, analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript; Di Wang, Shengju Yin conducted the research; Lei Jin, Zhiwen Li, Linlin Wang, Wentao Yue, and Aiguo Ren designed the research; Aiguo Ren and Chenghong Yin supervised the research; Aiguo Ren revised the manuscript, and had primary responsibility for the final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Pi, X., Wang, C., Wang, D. et al. Prenatal exposure to silver is associated with an elevated risk for neural tube defects: a case–control study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 28925–28934 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24214-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24214-y