胎儿期汞暴露对新生儿神经行为发育影响

  目的  调查普通孕妇不同孕期外周血及新生儿脐带血红细胞中甲基汞浓度变化及相关性。  方法  于2019年1 — 4月在湖北省武汉市招募79名孕妇，采集孕妇孕早期[孕（12 ± 2）周]和孕晚期[孕（37 ± 2）周]外周血及新生儿脐带血，分离红细胞，采用高效液相色谱 – 电感耦合等离子体质谱联用方法检测红细胞内甲基汞浓度。  结果  本研究孕妇孕早、晚期及脐带血红细胞中甲基汞浓度的几何均数分别为0.322、0.238、0.515 μg/g，四分位数间距分别为0.188～0.728、0.120～0.549、0.322～1.099 μg/g，孕早期甲基汞含量显著高于孕晚期（P < 0.05），孕晚期甲基汞含量显著低于脐带血（P < 0.05），孕早期甲基汞含量也显著低于脐带血（P < 0.05），孕早、晚期血及脐带血甲基汞含量之间两两呈现强正相关性（r = 0.763、0.866、0.854）。  结论  孕妇孕早期、孕晚期血和新生儿脐带血红细胞中甲基汞含量存在明显相关性；脐带血红细胞甲基汞含量显著高于孕妇外周血，提示可能存在富集现象。

Immunotoxicity of mercury: pathological and toxicological effects

  Objective   To investigate changes in peripheral erythrocyte methylmercury among pregnant women during different gestational periods and the methylmercury in neonatal umbilical cord blood erythrocyte.   Methods  Totally 79 pregnant women having prenatal examination were recruited at a women′s and children′s health care center in Wuhan city during January – April, 2019. The women′s peripheral blood samples were collected at the first trimester (12 ± 2 weeks of gestation) and the third trimester (37 ± 2 weeks of gestation) and neonatal umbilical cord blood samples were also collected. Red blood cells of the samples were separated and concentrations of methylmercury in the cells were detected with high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS).   Results   The geometric means of erythrocyte methylmercury of all the women were 0.322 μg/g (interquartile range [IRQ]: 0.188 – 0.728 μg/g) for the samples of first trimester, 0.238 μg/g (IRQ: 0.120 – 0.549 μg/g ) for those of third trimester, and 0.515 μg/g (IRQ: 0.322 – 1.099 μg/g) for neonatal umbilical cord samples. The erythrocyte methylmercury of the first trimester samples was significantly higher than that of the third trimester samples (P < 0.05); while, the erythrocyte methylmercury of both the first trimester and the third trimester samples were significantly lower than that of neonatal umbilical cord samples (both P < 0.05). The erythrocyte methylmercury of the umbilical cord blood samples, the first trimester samples and the third trimester samples were closely correlated with each other, with the correlation coefficients of 0.763, 0.866, and 0.854, respectively.   Conclusion   The erythrocyte methylmercury of pregnant women during first and third trimester and that of neonatal umbilical cord blood are significantly correlated with each other. Higher erythrocyte methylmercury of neonatal umbilical cord blood than that of women during pregnancy suggests a possible enrichment of methyl mercury.