ArticleEnvironment international2018
Intrauterine multi-metal exposure is associated with reduced fetal growth through modulation of the placental gene network.
Article in Environment international, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal Exposure to Potentially Toxic Metals and Their Effects on Genetic Material in Offspring: a Systematic Review.Biological trace element research · 2023Pooled it
- Joint associations between maternal exposure to ambient air pollutants during pregnancy and low Apgar score in newborns: a birth cohort study in China.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Early Life Exposure To Multiple Metals, Nutrition, and Growth in Children - A Scoping Review.Current environmental health reports · 2025Article
- Insufficient Muscle Development Level Associated with Serum Zinc, Manganese and Cobalt Levels in Children Aged 6 to 9 Years in Shenzhen, China.Biological trace element research · 2025Article
- The Association between Multiple Environmental Exposures and Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in a Prospective, US-Based Cohort Study.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
- An assessment of organophosphate ester mixtures and the placental transcriptome.Environment international · 2025Article
- Prenatal exposure to pesticide mixtures and the placental transcriptome: Insights from trimester-specific, sex-specific and metabolite-scaled analyses in the SAWASDEE cohort.Environmental research · 2025Article
- Review
- Effects of exposure to multiple metallic elements in the first trimester of pregnancy on the risk of preterm birth.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals placental response under environmental stress.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D mediates the association between heavy metal exposure and cardiovascular disease.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Update of the risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in food.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2024Article
- Exposure to heavy metals and trace elements among pregnant women with twins: levels and association with twin growth discordance.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Effect of Gestational Exposure to Perfluorohexane Sulfonate on Placental Development in Mice Combining Alternative Splicing and Gene Expression Analyses.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Article
- Metal mixtures modeling identifies birth weight-associated gene networks in the placentas of children born extremely preterm.Chemosphere · 2023Article
- LncRNAFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Article
- Environmental toxicants and placental function.Best practice & research. Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology · 2022Review
- Associations between long-term exposures to airborne PMEnvironmental health : a global access science source · 2022Article
- Urinary metals and maternal circulating extracellular vesicle microRNA in the MADRES pregnancy cohort.Epigenetics · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIntrauterine metal exposures and aberrations in placental processes are known contributors to being born small for gestational age (SGA). However, studies to date have largely focused on independent effects, failing to account for potential interdependence among these markers.
objectivesWe evaluated the inter-relationship between multi-metal indices and placental gene network modules related to SGA status to highlight potential molecular pathways through which in utero multi-metal exposure impacts fetal growth.
methodsWeighted quantile sum (WQS) regression was performed using a panel of 16 trace metals measured in post-partum maternal toe nails collected from the Rhode Island Child Health Study (RICHS, n = 195), and confirmation of the derived SGA-related multi-metal index was conducted using Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). We leveraged existing placental weighted gene coexpression network data to examine associations between the SGA multi-metal index and placental gene expression. Expression of select genes were assessed using RT-PCR in an independent birth cohort, the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS, n = 237).
resultsWe identified a multi-metal index, predominated by arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd), that was positively associated with SGA status (Odds ratio = 2.73 [1.04, 7.18]). This index was also associated with the expression of placental gene modules involved in "gene expression" (β = -0.02 [-0.04, -0.01]) and "metabolic hormone secretion" (β = 0.02 [0.00, 0.05]). We validated the association between cadmium exposure and the expression of GRHL1 and INHBA, genes in the "metabolic hormone secretion" module, in NHBCS.
conclusionWe present a novel approach that integrates the application of advanced bioinformatics and biostatistics methods to delineate potential placental pathways through which trace metal exposures impact fetal growth.
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