Genetic Susceptibility to Neurotoxicity Related to Prenatal Inorganic Arsenic Exposure in Young Spanish Children

We explored the influence of child and maternal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes related to neurological function and arsenic metabolism (i.e., ABCA1, ABCB1, PON1, CYP3A, BDNF, GSTP1, MT2A, and APOE as well as AS3MT) on the association between prenatal arsenic (As) exposure and methylation efficiency and neuropsychological development in 4-5-year-old children. Participants were 549 mother-child pairs from the INMA (Environment and Childhood) Spanish Project. We measured inorganic arsenic (iAs) and the metabolites monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) in urine samples collected during pregnancy. Neuropsychological development was assessed at the age of 4-5 years using the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA). Several SNPs were determined in maternal and child DNA; AS3MT and APOE haplotypes were inferred. The median ∑As (sum of iAs, DMA, and MMA) was 7.08 μg/g creatinine. Statistically significant interactions for children's APOE haplotype were observed. Specifically, ε4-carrier children had consistently lower MSCA scores in several scales with increasing ∑As and MMA concentrations. These results provide evidence regarding the neurotoxic effects of early life exposure to As, observing that the APOE ε4 allele could make children more vulnerable to this exposure.