Distribution characteristics of placental lead and cadmium elements among full term neonates in Chengdu area / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the lead and cadmium contents in different sampling sites from full term neonatal placenta and to explore the role of placental sample in the evaluation of intrauterine heavy metals exposure.Methods The placentas from 30 healthy full term neonates were collected from the West China Second Hospital of Sichuan University during May and June 2016.Each placenta fetal side was divided into the left and right parts with the umbilical vein in the umbilical cord cross-section as the 12 o'clock direction.The villus lobular tissue samples were taken from the 1/4 radius in left part (site A) and 3/4 radius in the right part (site B).The graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry was used to detect the lead and cadmium contents in the samples.The elements contents in the site A and B were performed the paired t-test and correlation analysis.Results The mean contents of lead and cadmium in dry weight sample at placental site A were 91.8 and 66.7μg/kg which at the site B were 88.9 and 64.8 μg/kg respectively.The lead and cadmium contents at these two sites presented the positive correlation,the coefficients were 0.98 and 0.97 respectively,whereas the difference in contents between the tissues from different placental sites had no statistical significance.Conclusion The lead and cadmium contents of villus lobular tissue in the central part of placenta fetal side (1/4-3/4 radius area) are basically consistent,which is a reliable indicator for evaluating the intrauterine heavy metals exposure.