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Assessment of 12 Essential and Toxic Elements in Whole Blood of Pregnant and Non-pregnant Women Living in Wuhan of China

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Abstract

Exposures to toxic trace elements and deficiencies of essential elements during pregnancy are associated to various birth complications. Assessment of the trace elements in pregnant women living in specific areas is important for biomonitoring. A total of 196 healthy pregnant women absent of pregnancy complications living in Wuhan of China and 210 healthy non-pregnant women were enrolled. The whole blood were collected. The toxic element chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), thallium (Tl), and lead (Pb) and essential elements magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) were determined by using a inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)–based method. All the metal(loid)s, except for Cd, Hg, and Tl, showed different levels in whole blood of the pregnant women compared with the non-pregnant women (p < 0.05), among which Mg, Fe, As, and Pb were lower while Ca, Cr, Mn, Cu, and Zn were higher. Moreover, whole blood levels of Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn showed significant variations among different gestational ages, while As and Cd showed significant variations among different maternal ages. In addition, Fe-Mg, Fe-Zn, Cu-Ca, and Hg-As were found to be correlated positively in whole blood of the pregnant women, while Fe-Ca, Zn-Ca, and Fe-Cu were correlated negatively. The systematic information of toxic and essential elements in whole blood of pregnant women living in Wuhan of China can provide important guidance for the supplementation of essential elements during pregnancy and for biomonitoring of environmental overexposure.

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Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31600666).

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  1. Lu Gong and Qing Yang contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Lu Gong, Chang-Wen-Bo Liu, Xu Wang & Hao-Long Zeng

  2. Institute of Food Science and Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, Hubei, China

    Qing Yang

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  1. Lu Gong
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Correspondence to Hao-Long Zeng.

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Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. All the procedures involving human samples conformed to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Gong, L., Yang, Q., Liu, CWB. et al. Assessment of 12 Essential and Toxic Elements in Whole Blood of Pregnant and Non-pregnant Women Living in Wuhan of China. Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 2121–2130 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02337-y

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