Maternal Methylmercury Exposure Through Rice Ingestion and Offspring Development

母亲通过摄入稻米和后代发育而接触甲基汞

• 批准号: 8433755
• 负责人: Sarah E Rothenberg
• 金额: $ 39.5万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT COLUMBIA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-02-04 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8433755
• 关键词: Accounting; Address; Adverse effects; Air; Behavioral; Biological Markers; Blood; Brain; Child; China; Conflict (Psychology); Consumption; Data Set; Development; Dose; Epidemiologic Studies; Equipment and supply inventories; Exposure to; Faeroe Islands; Fetus; Fishes; Food; Food Webs; Guidelines; Hair; Health; Health Professional; Human; Infant Development; Ingestion; International; Iraq; Iron; Japan; Knowledge; Lead; Link; Mammals; Measures; Mercury; Methylmercury Compounds; Micronutrients; Mining; Modeling; Mothers; Neonatal; Neurologic; Neuropsychological Tests; Neurotoxins; New Zealand; Nutritional; Nutritional status; Oceans; Omega-3 Fatty Acids; Outcome; Pathway interactions; Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids; Population; Pregnancy; Province; Public Health; Questionnaires; Reporting; Research Personnel; Rice; Risk; Seafood; Selenium; Serum; Seychelles; Shark; Soil; Testing; Time; Trace Elements; Tuna; Water; Zinc; cohort; methylmercury exposure; neurodevelopment; offspring; pollutant; prenatal; psychologic; public health relevance; relating to nervous system

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mercury is a global pollutant and potent neurotoxin. Methylmercury is one of the most toxic forms of mercury due to its ability to cross the blood brain and placental barriers. Fish consumption is considered the primary exposure methylmercury pathway because this form of mercury is efficiently biomagnified in the aquatic food web and the mercury dose from seafood is greater than 95% methylmercury in predatory fish, like tuna and shark. Historical methylmercury poisonings in Japan and Iraq confirmed human health impacts from methylmercury exposure were most severe in the developing fetus due to irreversible neural damage. The current paradigm, with respect to maternal ingestion of fish during gestation, supports consumption of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids but low in methylmercury to gain the benefits of fish ingestion (i.e., promote prenatal neurodevelopment), while minimizing exposure of the fetus to methylmercury. However, there remains a critical knowledge gap concerning the effect of low-level maternal methylmercury exposure on the developing fetus in the absence of (or lower level of) omega-3 fatty acids. The primary aim of this study is to address this knowledge gap. In the town of Wanshan, Guizhou province, southwestern China, a legacy of mercury contamination from 600 years of mercury mining has severely polluted the air, soil and water. In this region, rice ingestion was reported as the primary methylmercury exposure pathway, not fish. The proposed study includes recruitment of a mother-offspring cohort in Wanshan, China, to investigate offspring neurodevelopment among a population where rice is a staple food and mercury contamination is elevated. All previous studies concerning maternal methylmercury exposure and offspring health included populations where fish ingestion was the primary exposure pathway. This study will examine methylmercury exposure in the absence of the same beneficial micronutrients associated with fish ingestion. The specific aim is to establish for the first time, whether a relationship exists between prenatal methylmercury exposure and offspring neurodevelopment in a population where rice is the primary maternal methylmercury exposure pathway, while accounting for other known confounders of concern, including maternal nutritional status and other indirect measures. Results from this study will enable health professionals to develop more protective guidelines to reduce irreversible neurodevelopmental damage to offspring due to prenatal methylmercury exposure. Additionally, rice is a staple food for more than half the world's population; therefore, it is critical to investigate the potential health risks of methylmercury exposure through maternal ingestion of rice to the developing fetus, the most susceptible population to the deleterious effects of methylmercury.

描述（由申请人提供）：汞是一种全球污染物和强效神经毒素。甲基汞是毒性最强的汞形式之一，因为它能够穿过血脑和胎盘屏障。鱼类消费被认为是甲基汞的主要暴露途径，因为这种形式的汞在水生食物网中被有效地生物放大，并且海鲜中的汞剂量高于金枪鱼和鲨鱼等掠食性鱼类中甲基汞的 95%。日本和伊拉克历史上发生的甲基汞中毒事件证实，由于不可逆的神经损伤，甲基汞暴露对人类健康的影响对发育中的胎儿最为严重。目前关于母亲在妊娠期间摄入鱼类的范例，支持食用富含 omega-3 脂肪酸但甲基汞含量较低的鱼类，以获得摄入鱼类的益处（即促进产前神经发育），同时最大限度地减少胎儿的接触至甲基汞。然而，在缺乏（或较低水平）omega-3 脂肪酸的情况下，关于低水平母亲甲基汞暴露对发育中胎儿的影响仍然存在关键的知识差距。本研究的主要目的是解决这一知识差距。 在中国西南部的贵州省万山镇，600年汞矿开采留下的汞污染严重污染了空气、土壤和水。据报道，在该地区，摄入大米是甲基汞的主要暴露途径，而不是鱼类。拟议的研究包括在中国万山招募一个母子队列，以调查以大米为主食且汞污染较高的人群中后代的神经发育。之前所有关于母亲甲基汞暴露和后代健康的研究都包括以鱼类摄入为主要暴露途径的人群。这项研究将在缺乏与鱼类摄入相关的相同有益微量营养素的情况下检查甲基汞的暴露情况。 具体目标是首次确定产前之间是否存在关系 在稻米是主要母亲甲基汞接触途径的人群中，甲基汞接触和后代神经发育，同时考虑到其他已知的令人担忧的混杂因素，包括母亲营养状况和其他间接措施。这项研究的结果将使卫生专业人员能够制定更多的保护指南，以减少因产前甲基汞暴露而对后代造成不可逆转的神经发育损害。此外，大米是世界上一半以上人口的主食。所以， 调查孕产妇接触甲基汞的潜在健康风险至关重要 发育中的胎儿摄入大米是最容易受到甲基汞有害影响的人群。