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. 2021 Sep 13;17(9):84.
doi: 10.1007/s11306-021-01836-w.

Associations of maternal bisphenol urine concentrations during pregnancy with neonatal metabolomic profiles

Sophia M Blaauwendraad  1   2 , Ellis Voerman  1   2 , Leonardo Trasande  3   4   5   6   7 , Kurunthachalam Kannan  3   4 , Susana Santos  1   2 , George J G Ruijter  8 , Chalana M Sol  1   2 , Linda Marchioro  9 , Engy Shokry  9 , Berthold Koletzko  9 , Vincent W V Jaddoe  1   2 , Romy Gaillard  10   11
Affiliations

Associations of maternal bisphenol urine concentrations during pregnancy with neonatal metabolomic profiles

Sophia M Blaauwendraad et al. Metabolomics. .

Abstract

Background: Fetal exposure to bisphenols is associated with altered fetal growth, adverse birth outcomes and childhood cardio-metabolic risk factors. Metabolomics may serve as a tool to identify the mechanisms underlying these associations. We examined the associations of maternal bisphenol urinary concentrations in pregnancy with neonatal metabolite profiles from cord blood.

Methods: In a population-based prospective cohort study among 225 mother-child pairs, maternal urinary bisphenol A, S and F concentrations in first, second and third trimester were measured. LC-MS/MS was used to determine neonatal concentrations of amino acids, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), phospholipids (PL), and carnitines in cord blood.

Results: No associations of maternal total bisphenol concentrations with neonatal metabolite profiles were present. Higher maternal average BPA concentrations were associated with higher neonatal mono-unsaturated alkyl-lysophosphatidylcholine concentrations, whereas higher maternal average BPS was associated with lower neonatal overall and saturated alkyl-lysophosphatidylcholine (p-values < 0.05).Trimester-specific analyses showed that higher maternal BPA, BPS and BPF were associated with alterations in neonatal NEFA, diacyl-phosphatidylcholines, acyl-alkyl-phosphatidylcholines, alkyl-lysophosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelines and acyl-carnitines, with the strongest effects for third trimester maternal bisphenol and neonatal diacyl-phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyeline and acyl-carnitine metabolites (p-values < 0.05). Associations were not explained by maternal socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics or birth characteristics.

Discussion: Higher maternal bisphenol A, F and S concentrations in pregnancy are associated with alterations in neonatal metabolite profile, mainly in NEFA, PL and carnitines concentrations. These findings provide novel insight into potential mechanisms underlying associations of maternal bisphenol exposure during pregnancy with adverse offspring outcomes but need to be replicated among larger, diverse populations.

Keywords: Bisphenol; Carnitines; Fatty acids; Metabolomics; Phospholipids; Pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of participants included in the study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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