Neonatal Metabolomic Profiles Related to Prenatal Arsenic Exposure

Prenatal
inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure is associated with health
effects evident at birth and later in life. An understanding of the
relationship between prenatal iAs exposure and alterations in the
neonatal metabolome could reveal critical molecular modifications,
potentially underpinning disease etiologies. In this study, nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based metabolomic analysis was
used to identify metabolites in neonate cord serum associated with
prenatal iAs exposure in participants from the Biomarkers of Exposure
to ARsenic (BEAR) pregnancy cohort, in Gómez Palacio, Mexico.
Through multivariable linear regression, ten cord serum metabolites
were identified as significantly associated with total urinary iAs
and/or iAs metabolites, measured as %iAs, %monomethylated arsenicals
(MMAs), and %dimethylated arsenicals (DMAs). A total of 17 metabolites
were identified as significantly associated with total iAs and/or
iAs metabolites in cord serum. These metabolites are indicative of
changes in important biochemical pathways such as vitamin metabolism,
the citric acid (TCA) cycle, and amino acid metabolism. These data
highlight that maternal biotransformation of iAs and neonatal levels
of iAs and its metabolites are associated with differences in neonate
cord metabolomic profiles. The results demonstrate the potential utility
of metabolites as biomarkers/indicators of in utero environmental exposure.