ArticleEnvironment international2021
Prenatal methylmercury exposure and DNA methylation in seven-year-old children in the Seychelles Child Development Study.
Article in Environment international, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- DNA methylation changes associated with prenatal mercury exposure: A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies from PACE consortium.Environmental research · 2022Pooled it
- Short-Chain Fatty Acids Mitigate Perinatal Methylmercury-Induced Cognitive Impairment Via Modulation of the Gut Microbiota Composition.Biological trace element research · 2026Article
- Mercury-induced excitotoxicity in autism spectrum disorder: disruption of glutamatergic homeostasis and the therapeutic role of the selenium-glutathione axis.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2026Review
- DNA methylation as a biomarker of prenatal exposures: current challenges and opportunities.Environmental epigenetics · 2026Review
- Effects of Environmental Non-Essential Toxic Heavy Metals on Epigenetics During Development.Toxics · 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
- Interaction of mercury exposure and DNA methylation with sustained attention in children in a novel analysis of epigenetic susceptibility.Environmental epigenetics · 2025Article
- The Epigenetics of Migraine.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The Threat Posed by Environmental Contaminants on Neurodevelopment: What Can We Learn from Neural Stem Cells?International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Epigenetics and Methylmercury-Induced Neurotoxicity, Evidence from Experimental Studies.Toxics · 2023Review
- Selenium Status: Its Interactions with Dietary Mercury Exposure and Implications in Human Health.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Genetics and Epigenetics of Manganese Toxicity.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
- Biological Role of Nutrients, Food and Dietary Patterns in the Prevention and Clinical Management of Major Depressive Disorder.Nutrients · 2022Review
- Global DNA Methylation in Cord Blood as a Biomarker for Prenatal Lead and Antimony Exposures.Toxics · 2022Article
- Methylmercury-induced DNA methylation-From epidemiological observations to experimental evidence.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
- Leukocyte methylomic imprints of exposure to the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda: a pilot epigenome-wide analysis.Epigenomics · 2022Article
- Developmental exposure to methylmercury and ADHD, a literature review of epigenetic studies.Environmental epigenetics · 2021Review
- DNA methylation changes induced by prenatal toxic metal exposure: An overview of epidemiological evidence.Environmental epigenetics · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMethylmercury (MeHg) is present in fish and is a neurotoxicant at sufficiently high levels. One potential mechanism of MeHg toxicity early in life is epigenetic dysregulation that may affect long-term neurodevelopment. Altered DNA methylation of nervous system-related genes has been associated with adult mental health outcomes.
objectiveTo assess associations between prenatal MeHg exposure and DNA methylation (at the cytosine of CG dinucleotides, CpGs) in three nervous system-related genes, encoding brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), glutamate receptor subunit NR2B (GRIN2B), and the glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1), in children who were exposed to MeHg in utero.
methodsWe tested 406 seven-year-old Seychellois children participating in the Seychelles Child Development Study (Nutrition Cohort 2), who were prenatally exposed to MeHg from maternal fish consumption. Total mercury in maternal hair (prenatal MeHg exposure measure) collected during pregnancy was measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Methylation in DNA from the children's saliva was measured by pyrosequencing. To assess associations between prenatal MeHg exposure and CpG methylation at seven years of age, we used multivariable linear regression models adjusted for covariates.
resultsWe identified associations with prenatal MeHg exposure for DNA methylation of one GRIN2B CpG and two NR3C1 CpGs out of 12 total CpG sites. Higher prenatal MeHg was associated with higher methylation for each CpG site. For example, NR3C1 CpG3 had an expected increase of 0.03-fold for each additional 1 ppm of prenatal MeHg (B = 0.030, 95% CI 0.001, 0.059; p = 0.047). Several CpG sites associated with MeHg are located in transcription factor binding sites and the observed methylation changes are predicted to lead to lower gene expression.
conclusionsIn a population of people who consume large amounts of fish, we showed that higher prenatal MeHg exposure was associated with differential DNA methylation at seven years of age at specific CpG sites that may influence neurodevelopment and mental health.
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