Hair trace elements in women with alcohol abuse and their offspring

Objective: The primary objective of the current study was the assessment of trace element status in women with alcohol abuse and their children. Materials: A total of 24 women and 24 children took part in the current study (1: 1 - control: alcohol abuse). Hair trace element content (Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Se, Si, V, Zn, Al, B, Cd, Hg, Ni, Pb, Sn) was assessed using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry with NexION 300D (PerkinElmer Inc., Shelton, CT, USA) after microwave digestion in nitric acid. Results. The obtained data indicates that hair lithium in women with alcohol abuse was 2-fold higher than in healthy women (p = 0.037). In contrast, children prenatally exposed to ethanol were characterized by 3-fold lower levels of hair lithium (p = 0.043). With regard to the hair content of other studied trace elements, no significant changes were observed in alcohol- abusing women or their children. Correlation analysis indicated that hair lithium content in control women was directly related to that in their offspring (r = 0.859; p < 0.001), whereas alcohol abuse disrupted this association (r = 0.005; p = 0.986). At the same time, ethanol exposure significantly increased the correlation coefficients between women and offspring hair for mercury (r = 0.766; p =0.002) and tin (r = 0.590; p = 0.034) compared to the control subjects. The observed changes may at least partially mediate poor neurodevelopmental outcome in children born from mothers with alcohol abuse. However, further studies are required to estimate the underlying mechanisms. © 2016 Dustri-Verlag Dr. K. Feistle.