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Trimester-specific phthalate exposures in pregnancy are associated with circulating metabolites in children

Jaclyn M Goodrich1, Lu Tang2, Yanelli R Carmona3

  • 1Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America.

Plos One
|August 30, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Prenatal phthalate exposure impacts child metabolism, with effects varying by sex and timing of exposure during pregnancy. Metabolomics reveals these subtle changes before clinical signs of cardiometabolic risk appear.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Health
  • Metabolomics
  • Pediatric Endocrinology

Background:

  • Prenatal exposure to phthalates is linked to sex-specific adiposity in peripubertal children.
  • Untargeted metabolomics can identify biochemical pathways affected by early-life exposures.
  • Metabolomic analysis may reveal cardiometabolic risks before clinical markers are evident.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate associations between prenatal phthalate exposure and serum metabolites in children.
  • To characterize sex- and gestational-timing specific metabolic alterations.
  • To identify early biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the ELEMENT birth cohort, measuring phthalate metabolites in maternal urine across trimesters.
  • Employed mass-spectrometry based untargeted metabolomics on serum from 110 boys and 124 girls (aged 8-14).
  • Analyzed associations between trimester-specific toxicants and 572 annotated metabolites, adjusting for covariates and controlling for multiple comparisons (q<0.1).

Main Results:

  • Phthalate metabolites (MEP, MiBP, MCPP) in the first trimester were linked to reduced 2-deoxy-D-glucose in all children.
  • In girls, third-trimester phthalates (MECPP, MEHHP, MEHP, MCPP) associated with altered choline, acylcarnitines, and fatty acids.
  • In boys, third-trimester MIBP related to increased saturated fatty acids, and second-trimester MBzP inversely associated with thyroxine.

Conclusions:

  • Metabolomics biomarkers can detect sex- and exposure timing-specific responses to prenatal phthalates.
  • These metabolic changes may precede standard clinical markers of cardiometabolic risk.
  • Findings highlight the utility of metabolomics in understanding early environmental influences on child health.
Abstract

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