scholarly journals Mercury Materno-fetal Burden and Its Nutritional Impact

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 1652-1658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enas R. Abdel Hameed ◽  
Lobna S. Sherif ◽  
Ola M. Abdel Samie ◽  
Hanaa H. Ahmed ◽  
Amira Ahmed ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Mercury exists worldwide in food, water and air throwing its health hazards on all body systems. AIM: To show the influence of the presence of mercury in pregnant mothers’ blood on its level in the umbilical cord blood; and to display the relationship between the different foodstuff on the mercury levels in pregnant mothers' and umbilical cord blood. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly chosen 113 pregnant mothers at the time of labour and on their newborns. Full history, sociodemographic data and food frequency questionnaire for dietary assessment were recorded. The Maternal and neonatal anthropometric measurements together with the Apgar scoring were also measured. Serum mercury levels in both mothers' and umbilical cord blood were measured using the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). RESULTS: A high percentage of mothers (82.3%) were exposed to passive smoking. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the maternal and fetal umbilical cord blood mercury levels (p = 0.002). There was an insignificant negative correlation between the maternal blood and fetal umbilical cord blood mercury levels on one side and each of the different foodstuff on the other side (fish, vegetables, fruits and proteins, for example, meat and legumes). An insignificant positive correlation was found between dairy products and of the maternal blood and umbilical cord blood mercury levels. CONCLUSION: The fetal umbilical cord blood mercury levels correlate positively with the maternal blood mercury. The different foodstuff can influence the maternal and umbilical cord blood mercury levels whether by increase or decrease. Strict measures should be taken to decrease environmental mercury contamination with attention to pregnant mothers.

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-240
Author(s):  
Oksana D. Shchurevska ◽  
Svitlana I. Zhuk

The aim: To determine the degree of correlation of mass of the fetus and the level of mir-21, mir210 in maternal blood and umbilical cord blood of the fetus in uncomplicated gestation. Materials and methods: 60 pregnant women with a single baby pregnancy in the third trimester (37-40 weeks) were examined. They all were given a general clinical, obstetric and the level of miRNA21-3р and miRNA210-3р were determined in the whole blood of pregnant women (before labor) and in fetal blood obtained from the umbilical artery at birth. The level of miRNAs was determined by the TaqMan method. Results: After examining maternal and fetal plasma samples, we were able to determine 49 samples of hsa-miR210-3p and hsa-miR21-3p from maternal plasma, 44 samples of hsa-miR210-3p and 37 samples of hsa-miR21-3p from the cord blood, which is a satisfactory result of more than 50%. Subsequently, between the results obtained and the birth weight of the fetus Pearson’s correlation coefficient was studied. According to the results obtained, we found no correlation between fetal mass and hsa-miR210-3p level in maternal plasma (r-0,068674), low positive correlation of fetal mass with hsa-miR21-3p level in maternal plasma (r-0,212181 ), an average positive correlation with the level of hsa-miR21-3p in umbilical cord blood (r- 0.363374) and a high positive correlation with hsa-miR210-3p in umbilical cord blood (r-0.528616). Conclusions: Determination of the level of hypoxic miRNAs, in particular hsa-miR210-3p in the umbilical cord blood of the newborn may be a marker of the functional status of the placenta, which programs the normal development of the fetus.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Xiaoqian Yin ◽  
Yan Huo ◽  
Li Liu ◽  
Yixing Pan ◽  
Suxin Liu ◽  
...  

Objectives. The aim was to investigate neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) levels in the serum and term placentas and its potential role in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods. A total of 49 GDM subjects and 39 age-matched women with normal pregnancies were recruited. We examined serum concentrations of NGAL and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in maternal blood and cord blood and their expression levels in the term placentas and umbilical cord. Results. Serum NGAL levels were significantly higher in GDM patients than in normal pregnant controls both in the maternal blood (4.80 ± 1.99 vs. 3.66 ± 1.13, P=0.001) and the cord blood (4.70 ± 2.08 vs. 3.85 ± 1.44, P=0.027). Moreover, serum NGAL levels exhibited a positive correlation with various parameters of insulin resistance. Maternal serum NGAL levels positively correlated with the NGAL levels found in the cord blood of the control (r = 0.399, P=0.012) and the GDM subjects (r = 0.349, P=0.014). Finally, the expression of NGAL protein levels in the placenta (1.22 ± 0.39 vs. 0.65 ± 0.23, P<0.001) and umbilical cord (0.65 ± 0.23 vs. 0.25 ± 0.10, P<0.001) were higher in GDM women than those noted in the control subjects. In the GDM group, maternal serum NGAL levels exhibited a positive correlation with placental NGAL mRNA and protein levels (r = 0.848, P=0.008; r = 0.636, P=0.011, respectively). Conclusions. NGAL may be an important adipokine involved in GDM and fetal development. The oversecretion of NGAL from the placenta may contribute to the elevated levels of serum NGAL in gestational diabetes mellitus.


2017 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 442-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shih-Hui Huang ◽  
Ken-Pen Weng ◽  
Ching-Chiang Lin ◽  
Chung-Cheng Wang ◽  
Charles Tzu-Chi Lee ◽  
...  

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