Does aluminum exposure of pregnant animals lead to accumulation in mothers or their offspring?

There is concern that environmental and dietary aluminum (Al) might cause developmental toxicity. To better understand this concern, we reviewed published studies which administered Al compounds to pregnant animals and measured accumulation of Al in mother, fetus, or born offspring. A total of 7 studies were identified which administered Al during gestation and evaluated fetal accumulation. Another 7 studies administered Al at least until birth and then evaluated accumulation in mothers and/or pups. These 14 studies included 4 different Al compounds (hydroxide, chloride, lactate, and citrate) administered by 4 different routes (gavage, feed, intraperitoneal injection, and subcutaneous injection) with total doses ranging from 13.5 to 8,400 mg/kg. Fetal Al levels were not increased in 6 of 7 studies and pup Al levels were not increased in 4 of 5 studies in which they were measured. Maternal Al levels were increased in some studies, but there was no consistent pattern of organ-specific accumulation and several positive studies were contradicted by subsequent reports from the same laboratory. Placental levels were increased in 6 of 9 studies and were greater than corresponding fetal levels. The weight of evidence in these studies suggests that environmental and dietary Al exposures are unlikely to pose risks of Al accumulation to pregnant animals or their fetuses.

有人担心环境中的铝和饮食中的铝可能会导致发育毒性。为了更好地理解这一担忧，我们回顾了已发表的研究，这些研究给怀孕的动物施用铝化合物，并测量母体、胎儿或出生后代体内铝的蓄积情况。共确定了7项在妊娠期施用铝并评估胎儿蓄积情况的研究。另外7项研究至少在动物出生前施用铝，然后评估母体和/或幼崽体内的蓄积情况。这14项研究包括4种不同的铝化合物（氢氧化物、氯化物、乳酸盐和柠檬酸盐），通过4种不同的途径（灌胃、饲料、腹腔注射和皮下注射）施用，总剂量范围从13.5毫克/千克到8400毫克/千克。在7项研究中的6项里，胎儿的铝水平没有升高，在5项测量幼崽铝水平的研究中的4项里，幼崽的铝水平没有升高。在一些研究中母体的铝水平有所升高，但没有器官特异性蓄积的一致模式，而且同一实验室的后续报告与一些阳性研究结果相矛盾。在9项研究中的6项里，胎盘的铝水平升高，且高于相应的胎儿水平。这些研究中的证据权重表明，环境中的铝和饮食中的铝暴露不太可能给怀孕的动物及其胎儿带来铝蓄积的风险。