PLACENTAL ARSENIC AND CADMIUM IN RELATION TO LIPID PEROXIDES AND GLUTATHIONE LEVELS IN MATERNAL-INFANT PAIRS FROM A COPPER SMELTER AREA

Arsenic exposure may enhance oxidative damage causing adverse health e ffects in pregnant women. The purposes of this paper are: (i) to evalu ate placental arsenic concentration as a biomarker of arsenic exposure for pregnant women; and (ii) to examine the relationship between meta l exposure from a copper smelter area in Bulgaria and oxidative damage during pregnancy (as measured by glutathione and lipid peroxides) in 49 maternal-infant pairs. Placental levels of arsenic were highest in areas with the highest environmental contamination, and environmental variables (residency, smoking and occupational exposure) explained a l arge portion of the observed variability placental arsenic levels (lin ear regression R(2) = 0.71). The combined exposures of smoking and liv ing in the smelter area were associated with lower glutathione antioxi dant protection. The per Gent maternal and cord blood glutathione in r educed for was significantly lower for smokers compared to nonsmokers in the smelter area (47 versus 66 per cent in maternal blood, P < 0.01 , and 60 versus 75 per cent in cord blood, P < 0.05). Higher concentra tions of lipid peroxides in maternal blood cord blood and placenta, th ough not statistically significant, suggested that pregnant women with both exposures may be at higher risk of oxidative damage.