Sources and Protracted Effects of Early Life Exposure to Arsenic and Mercury

描述(由申请人提供) 其目标是进行创新的多学科研究，以确定砷和汞暴露的主要来源，并阐明早期接触砷和汞对人类健康的长期影响。ATSDR已将砷和汞确定为与人类健康有关的第一和第三大环境化学品。因为在年轻人中暴露会增加糖尿病、呼吸系统疾病以及生殖和发育障碍的发生率。甲基汞是食物供应中的一种主要污染物，特别是鱼类。对于胎儿、婴儿和儿童来说，暴露在甲基汞中会对发育中的神经系统产生严重的不利影响，并干扰认知思维和记忆。尽管人们对砷和汞的关注与日俱增，研究的重点也越来越多，但仍存在重大的知识差距，特别是在美国暴露水平非常低的情况下。因此，达特茅斯SRP致力于获取有关暴露于极低水平的砷和汞的影响的新信息，从而为以科学为基础的风险评估提供基础，从而制定更知情、更有效和更全面的公共卫生政策。这些活动的具体目的是：(1)阐明砷在水稻中的吸收和积累情况，并利用这些信息确定吸收砷含量较低的水稻新品种；(2)阐明甲基汞如何在鱼类体内积累以及温度、盐度和碳含量的环境变化如何影响海洋生态系统中的甲基汞；(3)确定无机和有机砷对肺部对细菌感染的先天性免疫反应的剂量依赖和相对影响；(4)了解孕妇和胎儿砷暴露对母亲和新生儿代谢综合征和炎症的影响，这是我们人口中面临最大风险的母亲和新生儿。这项研究将得到培训核心、微量元素分析核心以及研究翻译和社区参与核心的支持，这些核心将分别向我们的利益相关者和社区传达我们的研究结果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) The goal is to conduct innovative, multidisciplinary research to identify the major sources of As and Hg exposure and to elucidate the protracted effects of early life exposure to As and Hg on human health. The ATSDR has identified As and Hg as the number one and number three environmental chemicals of concern with regard to human health. As exposure in the young increases the rates of diabetes, respiratory disease, and reproductive and developmental disorders. Methylmercury (MeHg) is a major contaminant in the food supply, particularly fish. For fetuses, infants, and children, exposure to MeHg has severe, adverse effects on the developing nervous system and interferes with cognitive thinking and memory. Despite growing concern and increasing research focus on As and Hg, there are significant knowledge gaps, especially with regard to very low levels of exposure in the US. Accordingly, the Dartmouth SRP is dedicated to obtaining new information on the effects of exposure to very low levels of As and Hg and thereby provide a foundation for science-based risk assessment leading to more informed, effective and comprehensive public health policies. The specific aims are to: (1) Elucidate how As is taken up and accumulated in rice and to use this information to identify new rice cultivars that assimilate lower amounts of arsenic; (2) Elucidate how MeHg accumulates in fish and how environmental changes in temperature, salinity, and carbon content influences MeHg in marine ecosystems; (3) Identify the dose dependent and relative effects of inorganic and organic As on the innate immune response of the lung to bacterial infections; and (4) Understand the effects of maternal and fetal As exposure on the development of metabolic syndrome and inflammation in mothers and newborns, the most at risk in our population. The research will be supported by a Training Core, a Trace Elements Analysis Core, and the Research Translation and Community Engagement Cores that will communicate our research findings to our stakeholders and communities, respectively.