Prenatal and Early Life Exposure to Ambient Air Pollutants Is Associated with the Fecal Metabolome in the First Two Years of Life

Prenatal and early life air pollution exposure has been
linked
with several adverse health outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying
these relationships are not yet fully understood. Therefore, this
study utilizes fecal metabolomics to determine if pre- and postnatal
exposure to ambient air pollutants (i.e., PM10, PM2.5, and NO2) is associated with the fecal metabolome
in the first 2 years of life in a Latino cohort from Southern California.
The aims of this analysis were to estimate associations between (1)
prenatal air pollution exposure with fecal metabolic features at 1-month
of age, (2) prior month postnatal air pollution exposure with fecal
metabolites from 1-month to 2 years of age, and (3) how postnatal
air pollution exposure impacts the change over time of fecal metabolites
in the first 2 years of life. Prenatal exposure to air pollutants
was associated with several Level-1 metabolites, including those involved
in vitamin B6 and tyrosine metabolism. Prior month air pollution exposure
in the postnatal period was associated with Level-1 metabolites involved
in histidine metabolism. Lastly, we found that pre- and postnatal
ambient air pollution exposure was associated with changes in metabolic
features involved in metabolic pathways including amino acid metabolism,
histidine metabolism, and fatty acid metabolism.