The Influence of Tobacco Smoke on Protein and Metal Levels in the Serum of Women during Pregnancy

Abstract

BackgroundTobacco smoking by pregnant women has a negative effect on fetal development and increases pregnancy risk by changing the oxidative balance and microelements level. Smoking affects the concentration, structure and function of proteins, potentially leading to various negative effects on pregnancy outcomes.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe influence of tobacco smoke on key protein fractions in smoking and non-smoking healthy pregnant women was determined by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Concentrations of the proteins α1-antitrypsin, α1-acid glycoprotein, α2-macroglobulin and transferrin were determined by ELISA tests. Total protein concentration was measured by the Biuret method. Smoking status was established by cotinine levels. Cadmium (Cd) and Zinc (Zn) concentrations were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry and the Zn/Cd ratio was calculated based on these numbers. Smoking women had a 3.7 times higher level of Cd than non-smoking women. Zn levels decreased during pregnancy for all women. The Zn/Cd ratio was three times lower in smoking women. The differences between the changes in the protein profile for smoking and non-smoking women were noted. Regarding proteins, α1-antitrypsin and α2-macroglobulin levels were lower in the non-smoking group than in the smoking group and correlated with Cd levels (r = -0.968, p = 0.032 for non-smokers; r = −0.835, p = 0.019 for smokers). Zn/Cd ratios correlated negatively with α1-, α2- and β-globulins.Conclusions/SignificanceExposure to tobacco smoke increases the concentration of Cd in the blood of pregnant women and may lead to an elevated risk of pregnancy disorders. During pregnancy alter concentrations of some proteins. The correlation of Cd with proteins suggests that it is one of the causes of protein aberrations.

Metal exposure and oxidative stress markers in pregnant Navajo Birth Cohort Study participants

“…One possible explanation is the impact of pregnancy on zinc status. Decreased serum zinc is common in pregnancy with reported mean values of approximately 58-60 μg/dL at term [66-69]. During pregnancy, women with serum zinc values <56 μg/dL are considered zinc deficient [70] and the mean serum zinc value in the NBCS study participants was below this definition of zinc sufficiency.…”

The Effect of Curcuma Zedoaria (Berg.) Roscoe Extract on Liver Function Tests of Rattus norvergicus Exposure by Cigarette Smoke

“…Evaluation of the level of total protein in smokers tends to be lower than non-smokers. Although the increasing level of oxidative stress due to cigarette-smoke exposure proved to stimulate more proteins production for rebalancing [26], higher oxidation of the albumin also rapidly cleared from the circulation and degraded [27]. In this study, total protein in the blood of cigarette smoke-rat groups and non-cigarette smoke groups showed nearly similar levels (Figure 2A).…”

Refinement of a Methodology for Untargeted Detection of Serum Albumin Adducts in Human Populations

“…In other populations, investigators have observed either the opposite relationship or no significant difference . One possible explanation for our observations would be a modulation of the effect of smoking by pregnancy, although the findings of other recent work are generally inconsistent with this idea . To simplify interpretation of the FS-SRM results, it was decided that statistical analyses should focus on variation that could not be formally explained by differences in protein concentration.…”

“…30 One possible explanation for our observations would be a modulation of the effect of smoking by pregnancy, although the findings of other recent work are generally inconsistent with this idea. 31 To simplify interpretation of the FS-SRM results, it was decided that statistical analyses should focus on variation that could not be formally explained by differences in protein concentration. Thus, an attempt was made to correct for these differences using simple normalization ( eq S1 ), for which the compositional analysis (see above) and the result in Figure 5 A provided some justification.…”