Skip Navigation
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document
Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document

Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: Manganese in teeth and neurobehavior: Sex-specific windows of susceptibility.

Authors: Bauer, Julia Anglen; Claus Henn, Birgit; Austin, Christine; Zoni, Silvia; Fedrighi, Chiara; Cagna, Giuseppa; Placidi, Donatella; White, Roberta F; Yang, Qiong; Coull, Brent A; Smith, Donald; Lucchini, Roberto G; Wright, Robert O; Arora, Manish

Published In Environ Int, (2017 Nov)

Abstract: Manganese (Mn) is an essential element required for growth and development, but higher body burdens have been associated with neurobehavioral decrements in children.We examined whether prenatal or postnatal Mn measured in deciduous teeth was associated with scores on a test of visuospatial learning and memory.Deciduous teeth were collected from 142 participants (ages 10-14years) residing near varied ferro‑manganese industry in Italy. Mn concentrations were measured in prenatal and postnatal tooth regions by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The Virtual Radial Arm Maze (VRAM), an animal-human analogue task, was used to assess visuospatial learning and memory. We used generalized additive, linear and zero-inflated Poisson mixed regression models to estimate associations between prenatal or postnatal Mn concentrations and repeated measures of all four VRAM outcomes: time, distance, working and reference memory errors. Effect measure modification by sex was examined in stratified models.U-shaped associations between prenatal Mn and VRAM outcomes were observed among girls only (pGAMM=0.001 to 0.02 in stratified models). Compared to the mid-tertile of prenatal Mn, girls in the highest tertile took 7.7s [95% CI: -6.1, 21.5] longer to complete the task, traveled 2.3 maze units [0.1, 4.4] farther, and committed more working and reference memory errors (β for count ratio=1.33 [1.01, 1.83]; 1.10 [0.98, 1.24], respectively). This association was not observed among boys. In contrast, for postnatal Mn, no significant associations were found, and patterns were similar for boys and girls.The prenatal period may be a critical window for the impact of environmental Mn on visuospatial ability and executive function, especially for females.

PubMed ID: 28941415 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication

Back
to Top