Abstract
Children’s exposure to metals can result in adverse effects such as cognitive function impairments. This study aimed to evaluate some toxic metals and levels of essential trace elements in blood, hair, and drinking water in children from a rural area of Southern Brazil. Cognitive ability and δ-aminolevulinate dehydratase (ALA-D) activity were evaluated. Oxidative stress was evaluated as a main mechanism of metal toxicity, through the quantification of malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. This study included 20 children from a rural area and 20 children from an urban area. Our findings demonstrated increase in blood lead (Pb) levels (BLLs). Also, increased levels of nickel (Ni) in blood and increase of aluminum (Al) levels in hair and drinking water in rural children were found. Deficiency in selenium (Se) levels was observed in rural children as well. Rural children with visual-motor immaturity presented Pb levels in hair significantly increased in relation to rural children without visual-motor immaturity (p < 0.05). Negative correlations between BLLs and ALA-D activity and positive correlations between BLLs and ALA-RE activity were observed. MDA was significantly higher in rural compared to urban children (p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that rural children were co-exposed to toxic metals, especially Al, Pb and Ni. Moreover, a slight deficiency of Se was observed. Low performance on cognitive ability tests and ALA-D inhibition can be related to metal exposure in rural children. Oxidative stress was suggested as a main toxicological mechanism involved in metal exposure.
Highlights
Children’s brain development is susceptible to damage resulting from sustained exposure to harmful environmental factors
The first group was composed of twenty school-aged children (8–14 years; nine girls and 11 boys), living in a rural area of a small city with approximately 17,000 inhabitants characterized by agricultural activities
We suggest that selenium deficiency can be a contributor factor to lipid peroxidation observed in the present study, evidenced by MDA levels which were significantly increased in rural children when compared to urban children (Table 5)
Summary
Children’s brain development is susceptible to damage resulting from sustained exposure to harmful environmental factors. Children are growing and developing and when exposed to chemicals at critical stages in their cognitive and physical developments it may have serious consequences. The effects of environmental chemicals on children’s health have been reported extensively, with the majority focusing on the adverse effects on the central nervous system (CNS) [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Several studies have demonstrated adverse effects on children’s health related to the exposure to metal, where the main consequences were intelligence and attention deficits [5,10,11,12]
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