Background PM2.5 may have adverse effects on offspring's development, and is known to be associated with a series of gestational metabolic disorders. However, the underlying biological mechanism remains unclear.
Objective This study aims to explore the association between gestational cumulative PM2.5 exposure and serum metabolite profile.
Methods We randomly selected 50 participants from the Shanghai Maternal-Child Pairs Cohort for the present study. Three-month mean PM2.5 exposure levels before sampling in the firstsecond trimester and in the third trimester were predicted by personal exposure model. Serum metabolite profiles of the same period was measured using both gas chromatography-time-offlight-mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-Q exactive orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QE-MS). A linear mixed-effect model was employed to examine the association between gestational PM2.5 exposure and serum metabolite profile. A pathway enrichment analysis was performed with mummichog approach.
Results The participants had an average age of (29.31±3.83) years. Serum metabolite profile was measured at a mean gestational age of (17.88±0.81) and (32.54±1.26) weeks respectively. The corresponding three-month mean PM2.5 exposure levels were (44.03±8.74) and (40.31±6.33) μg·m-3, respectively. After false discovery rate adjustment, in the mixed-effect model, by GC-TOF-MS, 19 signal peaks were significantly associated with gestational PM2.5 exposure; by UHPLC-QS-MS, 1903 positive ion and 179 negative ion signal peaks were associated with gestational PM2.5 exposure. The results of enrichment analysis with mummichog approach identified the enrichment of prostaglandin formation from dihomo gamma-linolenic acid, leukotriene metabolism, and vitamin E metabolism pathways.
Conclusion Gestational PM2.5 exposure may perturb some metabolic pathways related to oxidative stress, inflammation, and fatty acid metabolism.
DownLoad: