Browsing by Author "Vidigal, C."
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- earlyMYCO – a mother & child cohort in PortugalPublication . Assunção, Ricardo; Martins, Carla; Costa, A.; Serrano, D.; De Boevre, Marthe; Vidal, A.; De Saeger, Sarah; Alvito, Paula; Vidigal, C.; Almeida, E.; Nunes, C.Background: Early-life exposure occurs during gestation through transfer of toxic substances present in the maternal diet to the fetus and later on, during lactation, through the breast milk. Food chemical contaminants as mycotoxins are well known carcinogenic, nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic and immunosuppressive compounds. Recent human biomonitoring data revealed that Portuguese population is exposed to mycotoxins. These results emphasized the need for assessing the prenatal and lactation exposure to mycotoxins in a critical and vulnerable period of life. This study aims for the first time in Portugal to assess the early-life exposure to mycotoxins through a mother & child cohort, thus contributing to the knowledge of the exposome of Portuguese population. Methods: Participants are recruited in primary health care units in Lisbon (Portugal) during pregnancy (1st trimester). Four moments of observation are expected within this study: 2nd trimester of pregnancy (mother), and 1st week of life, 1st month of life, 6th month (mother & child). Each moment includes the collection of biological samples (blood, urine, breast milk) and the application of sociodemographic and food consumption questionnaires. Biological samples will be analyzed by liquid chromatography with detection by mass spectrometry for the detection and quantification of 45 mycotoxins’ biomarkers. Results: Data presented include results of mycotoxins’ biomarkers from 12 participants for blood and urine samples. Results obtained will be used to estimate the probable daily intake of each mycotoxin, to perform risk characterization and estimate the burden associated with this exposure. Conclusions: It is expected that results obtained within earlyMYCO will contribute to have a deeper knowledge on exposure of vulnerable population groups (pregnant women and infants) and to understand the impact of early-life exposure to mycotoxins. The biobank will be available for further research and future studies will be developed in order to have a broader knowledge on the exposome of Portuguese population.
- earlyMYCO – a mother & child cohort in Portugal to assess exposure to mycotoxinsPublication . Martins, C.; Assunção, R.; Serrano, D.; De Boevre, M.; De Saeger, S.; Alvito, P.; Vidigal, C.; Lamy, E.; Nunes, C.Aim: This study aims for the first time in Portugal to assess the early-life exposure to mycotoxins through a mother & child cohort.
- earlyMYCO – a mother & child pilot study to assess early-life exposure to mycotoxins in PortugalPublication . Martins, C.; Assunção, R.; Costa, A.; Serrano, D.; Namorado, S.; Vidigal, C.; Almeida, E.; Alvito, P.; Nunes, C.Early-life exposure occurs during gestation through transfer of toxic substances present in the maternal diet to the fetus and later during lactation, through the breast milk. Mycotoxins are well known carcinogenic, nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, and immunosuppressive food chemical contaminants. Recently, human biomonitoring data revealed that Portuguese population is exposed to mycotoxins. These results emphasized the need for assessing the prenatal and lactation exposure to mycotoxins in a vulnerable period of life. The earlyMYCO project (PTDC/MED-TOX/28762/2017) aimed, for the first time, to develop and implement a pilot study to assess the early-life exposure to mycotoxins through a mother & child cohort, and to identify the associated challenges, thus contributing to the development of future studies and to the knowledge of the exposome of Portuguese population. Participants were recruited in primary health care units in Lisbon (Portugal) during pregnancy (1st trimester) and followed-up in three moments of observation: 2nd trimester of pregnancy (mother), and 1st and 6th months of the child’s life (mother & child), with the collection of biological samples (blood, urine, breast milk) and the application of sociodemographic and food consumption questionnaires (food frequency and 24h dietary recall). All the participants of the earlyMYCO pilot study (n = 19) reported more than nine years of education, with 37% reporting 10- 12 years and 63% reporting more than 12 years. Regarding the household monthly income, 42% reported a monthly income above 1941€, with most of participants (95%) being workers for remuneration or profit. Dairy products, bread, tea, and coffee were reported as the food items with higher frequency of consumption. The 24h dietary recall questionnaires confirmed these results. Detailed analysis of the data gathered allowed also to highlight the high consumption of meat, fish and vegetables. Regarding infants, 22% were fed with infant formula and 78% were exclusively breastfed. It is expected that results obtained within earlyMYCO pilot study will contribute to a deeper knowledge on exposure of vulnerable population groups (pregnant women and infants) and to the understanding of the impact of early-life exposure to mycotoxins.
- Human biomonitoring of multiple mycotoxins in biological samples of Portuguese ‘earlyMYCO‘ mother-and-child pairsPublication . Visintin, L.; García-Nicolás, M.; Dhondt, E.; Martins, C.; Assunção, R.; Serrano, D.; Alvito, P.; Vidigal, C.; Almeida, E.; Nunes, C.; De Saeger, S.; De Boevre, M.Early-life exposure to hazardous compounds is an emerging research field that urgently needs to be investigated, as an attempt to contribute to exposome research. Mycotoxins are naturally-occurring food contaminants and recent studies reported that Portuguese children (< 3 years) as well as the adult population are exposed to multiple mycotoxins through food consumption constituting a potential health threat. Considering the above, a project designated by earlyMYCO (Early-life exposure to MYCOtoxins and its impact on health) is being developed to assess the risk of early-life exposure to mycotoxins in biological samples. The earlyMYCO project included a mother-and-child longitudinal study, with three moments of observation, starting from pregnancy (24-28 weeks) and going through the child’ first months of life (1-6 months). This study was conducted in the Primary Health Care Group Lisboa Central (ACES) and aimed to determine multiple mycotoxins and its biomarkers in breast milk and urine samples from mother-and-child pairs. The sample preparation procedure for breast milk samples (n=9) consisted of a solid-phase extraction (SPE) purification followed by a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE); urine samples (n=50) were prepared by applying the QuEChERS technique. Liquid chromatography coupled to ESI+ Xevo TQ-S mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) was used to determine multiple mycotoxin biomarkers of exposure in a targeted approach, namely aflatoxins B1, G1, B2, G2 and M1 (AFB1, AFG1, AFB2, AFG2, AFM1), ochratoxin A and alpha (OTA, OT-α), deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), zearalenone (ZEN), alpha and beta zearalenol (α-ZEL, β-ZEL), fumonisins B1, B2, B3 and hydrolyzed B1 (FB1, FB2, FB3, HFB1), sterigmatocystin (STE), and aflatoxicol (AFL) using a previously optimized and validated method. All the breast milk samples analysed contained multiple mycotoxins to whom the children were exposed to. Unfortunately, due to covid-19 the number of samples was restricted. All the breastmilk samples resulted to be positive for FB1 and FB2 (exception for one sample) with concentrations between 0.16 and 34.76 ng/mL and 0.14 and 11.90 ng/mL, respectively; 5 samples resulted positive also for FB3 (1.09-4.97 ng/mL). DON was detected in one sample as well as NIV with concentrations of 0.75 and 3.26 ng/mL, respectively. Moreover, AFB1 and AFG1 were detected respectively in three samples (0.36-0.64 ng/mL) and one sample (below the LOD), while in two samples OTA was present below the LOD. Besides the targeted approach on urine samples, an untargeted LC-HRMS approach was launched on both sample matrices.