Hair mercury negatively correlates with calcium pump activity in human term newborns and their mothers at delivery

BACKGROUND: Calcium homeostasis is a known target of several environmental toxicants including lead and mercury. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to determine the relationship between Hg exposure and erythrocyte Ca pump activity in women at delivery and in their newborns. METHODS: We determined total Hg as well as Pb concentrations in 81 hair and blood samples obtained at delivery. Basal and calmodulin-stimulated Ca pump activity was measured in red blood cells from cord blood and maternal erythrocyte plasma membranes. RESULTS: Maternal hair Hg negatively correlates with Ca pump activity in maternal and cord blood erythrocytes. Pb and Hg both independently correlate negatively with Ca pump activity without any statistically significant interaction. After adjustment for potential confounders, Pb and Hg explain about 30% and 7% of total variance of Ca pump activity in newborns and mothers, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm results reported in previous experimental studies and support the use of biomarkers in newborns from general population.