title: Cadmium concentration in maternal and cord blood and infant birth weight: a study on healthy non-smoking women.
abstract: The aim of our study was to measure, at delivery, maternal and cord blood cadmium levels (by means of atomic absorption spectrometry) in 45 healthy non-smoking pregnant women exposed to a low cadmium challenge, and to evaluate the relationship between these cadmium levels and the birth weight of the infants. Our results showed fairly low cadmium levels in maternal blood, in accordance with the fact that all women enrolled in this study lived in areas with low toxic metal contamination and that they did not smoke during their pregnancy. Furthermore, a highly significant direct correlation was found between maternal and cord blood cadmium concentrations. Since cadmium concentration appeared of the same order of magnitudine both in cord and maternal serum, one could speculate that cadmium is transferred easily from the mother to the fetus through the placenta. Finally, we found that birth weight is inversely correlated with maternal and cord blood cadmium concentrations; thus birth weight might be negatively influenced by cadmium levels as a result of the toxic effects of the metal on the placenta. Although preliminary, our data show that (also not-predictable) prenatal exposure to even low cadmium levels might be a risk factor for developmental impairment in infants.
authors.affiliation: Operative Unit of Pediatric Genetics and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Carmelo D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Salpietro
authors.forename: Sebastiano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gangemi
authors.forename: Paola L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Minciullo
authors.forename: Silvana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Briuglia
authors.forename: Maria V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Merlino
authors.forename: Annunziato
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stelitano
authors.forename: Mariateresa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cristani
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trombetta
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saija
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D002104:Cadmium / Q000097:blood*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D012016:Reference Values; D012907:Smoking
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium