title: Associations of methylmercury and inorganic mercury between human cord blood and maternal blood: a meta-analysis and its application.
abstract: Considering the different ability of placental transfer, an assessment of the cord:maternal blood ratio for both methylmercury (MeHg) and inorganic mercury (IHg) is needed especially for interpreting the low-level prenatal exposure. In this study, we conducted a Monte Carlo-based meta-analysis to comprehensively estimate that ratio for MeHg (RMeHg) and IHg (RIHg). The obtained values followed log-normal distributions, with a mean (standard deviation) of 1.89 (0.98) and 1.01 (0.55) for RMeHg and RIHg, respectively. We also estimated the percentage of MeHg in the blood by means of THg in cord and maternal blood using the RMeHg and RIHg, and obtained a value very close to the measured one (relative deviation, -0.4%). In conclusion, the fetus is exposed to approximately twice as much MeHg and to the same level of IHg as in maternal blood; the introduced model provides a rough but reasonable estimate of the percentage of MeHg in the blood.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Langbo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Cen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Tianjun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Huanghuang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Yindong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China. Electronic address: zhw326@126.com.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory of Earth Surface Process, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address: xjwang@urban.pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xuejun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008628:Mercury / Q000097:blood*; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds / Q000097:blood*; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D008767:Methylmercury Compounds; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Inorganic mercury; Meta-analysis; Methylmercury; Monte Carlo simulation; Ratio