ArticleBMC medicine2019
Exploring telomere length in mother-newborn pairs in relation to exposure to multiple toxic metals and potential modifying effects by nutritional factors.
Article in BMC medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 74 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
- Maternal and early-life arsenic exposure and relative telomere length in children: Findings from the BiRCH cohort.Environmental research · 2026Article
- Industrial Hydrocarbons Exposure Deteriorates Sperm Integrity and Reproductive Function.Journal of biochemical and molecular toxicology · 2026Article
- Association of depressive and/or pregnancy-related anxiety symptoms in pregnancy with maternal and neonatal biologic aging.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Article
- Maternal Lifestyle During Pregnancy and Its Influence on Offspring's Telomere Length.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Associations of Prenatal Mercury Exposure and PUFA with Telomere Length and mtDNA Copy Number in 7-Year-Old Children in the Seychelles Child Development Nutrition Cohort 2.Environmental health perspectives · 2025Article
- Concentrations of potentially toxic metals and trace elements in pregnant women and association with birth outcomes: A cross-sectional study in Malawi.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Preterm Birth and Its Association with Maternal Diet, and Placental and Neonatal Telomere Length.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Early Environment and Telomeres: a Long-Term Toxic Relationship.Current environmental health reports · 2023Review
- Boron Exposure Assessment of Desalinated Seawater on an Island in China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Psychosocial Factors and Telomere Length Among Parents and Infants of Immigrant Arab American Families.Biological research for nursing · 2023Article
- Environmental toxicants and placental function.Best practice & research. Clinical obstetrics & gynaecology · 2022Review
- Associations of Heavy Metals with Activities of Daily Living Disability: An Epigenome-Wide View of DNA Methylation and Mediation Analysis.Environmental health perspectives · 2022Article
- Association of Newborn Telomere Length With Blood Pressure in Childhood.JAMA network open · 2022Article
- Association between maternal urinary selenium during pregnancy and newborn telomere length: results from a birth cohort study.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2022Article
- Maternal Blood Levels of Toxic and Essential Elements and Birth Outcomes in Argentina: The EMASAR Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Association between urinary metals and leukocyte telomere length involving an artificial neural network prediction: Findings based on NHANES 1999-2002.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- The Impact of Oxidative Stress of Environmental Origin on the Onset of Placental Diseases.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Telomeres susceptibility to environmental arsenic exposure: Shortening or lengthening?Frontiers in public health · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe uterine environment may influence telomere length at birth, which is essential for cellular function, aging, and disease susceptibility over the lifespan. However, little is known about the impact of toxic chemicals on early-life telomeres. Therefore, we assessed the potential impact of multiple toxic metals on relative telomere length (rTL) in the maternal blood, cord blood, and placenta, as well as the potential modifying effects of pro-oxidants.
methodIn a mother-child cohort in northern Argentina (n = 169), we measured multiple toxic metals in the maternal blood or urine collected during late pregnancy, as well as the placenta and cord blood collected at delivery, using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We assessed associations of log
resultsExposure to boron and antimony during pregnancy was associated with shorter maternal rTL, and lithium with longer maternal rTL; a doubling of exposure was associated with changes corresponding to 0.2-0.4 standard deviations (SD) of the rTL. Arsenic concentrations in the placenta (n = 98), blood, and urine were positively associated with placental rTL, about 0.2 SD by doubled arsenic. In the cord blood (n = 88), only lead was associated with rTL (inversely), particularly in boys (p for interaction 0.09). Stratifying by newborn sex showed ten times stronger association in boys (about 0.6 SD) than in girls. The studied antioxidants did not modify the associations, except that with antimony.
conclusionsElevated exposure to boron, lithium, arsenic, and antimony was associated with maternal or newborn rTL in a tissue-specific, for lead also sex-specific, manner. Nutritional antioxidants did not generally influence the associations.
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