Abstract
This cohort study sought to investigate the effects of phthalates exposure during pregnancy on offspring asthma and its association with placental stress and inflammatory factor mRNA expression levels. A total of 3474 pregnant women from the China Ma’anshan birth cohort participated in this study. Seven phthalate metabolites were detected in urine samples during pregnancy by solid phase extraction–high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Placenta stress and inflammation mRNA expression were assessed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Early pregnancy may be the critical period when phthalates exposure increases the risk of asthma in infants and young children, and there is a certain gender difference in the risk of asthma in infants and young children. Moreover, through the placenta stress and inflammatory factor associated with infant asthma found anti-inflammatory factor of interleukin-10 (IL-10) mRNA expression will reduce the risk of 36-month-old male infant asthma. The expression of interleukin-4(IL-4) and macrophage (M2) biomarker cluster of differentiation 206(CD206) mRNA reduced the risk of asthma in 18-month-old female infants. Placental stress and inflammatory response were analyzed using mediating effects. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) showed a complete mediating effect between mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP) exposure in early pregnancy and asthma in 12-month-old males, and IL-10 also showed a complete mediating effect between mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP) exposure in early and late pregnancy and asthma in 36-month-old males. In summary, exposure to phthalates during pregnancy may contribute to the development of asthma in infants, which may be associated with placental stress and inflammation.
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Acknowledgements
We are most grateful to the participants of the MABC cohort study and the study team, research nurses, interviewers, research assistants and other staff who have taken part in gathering the data of this study.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 82073566/82073578], the program for excellent young talents in college and university of Anhui province [gxyq2019014], Clinical Scientific Research Project of Anhui Medical University [No. 2020xkj161] and the Anhui Medical University Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacology Co-construction Project [2020].
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Wang, JQ., Liang, CM., Hu, YB. et al. The effect of phthalates exposure during pregnancy on asthma in infants aged 0 to 36 months: a birth cohort study. Environ Geochem Health 45, 1951–1974 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-022-01320-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-022-01320-x