Associations between prenatal exposure to metal mixtures and infant reproductive hormones during mini-puberty

The reproductive hormone homeostasis is crucial for child development. Exposure to metals during pregnancy may have adverse effects on offspring health. However, the association between prenatal exposure to metals and infant reproductive hormone levels remains unknown.

This study involved 812 mother-infant pairs from Wuhan, China, assessing prenatal exposure to 13 metals in maternal plasma during early pregnancy and measuring five reproductive hormones in urine samples of one-month-old infants. Generalized linear models were employed to investigate the associations between individual metal exposures and urinary hormone levels in infants. Additionally, weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression and quantile g-computation were employed to evaluate the impact of metal mixtures.

Most of the detected metals in maternal plasma were associated with lower levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in infants. Each interquartile range (IQR) increase in manganese (Mn), barium (Ba), thallium (Tl), vanadium (V), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) was significantly associated with an approximately 9.87 % to 38.24 % decrease in FSH or LH. WQS and quantile g-computation models confirmed a significant association between prenatal metal mixtures and reduced FSH and LH in male infants, and WQS indicated a significant association between metal mixtures and decreased FSH in female infants.

Maternal exposure to mixed metals during early pregnancy was associated with lower levels of FSH and LH in infants, suggesting that prenatal exposure to metals may disrupt the balance of infant reproductive hormones. Further research is warranted to confirm these associations and explore the underlying mechanisms.