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Peer-reviewedCC BYEnvironmental science & technology

Matrix-Resolved Profiling of the Prenatal Chemical Exposome Reveals Selective Placental Retention and Fetal Transfer.

  • Montse Marquès1,2,3
  • Ruben Gil-Solsona1
  • Ana González-Ruiz1,4,5
  • Esteban Restrepo-Montes1,6
  • Ana Megía5,7
  • Monica Ballesteros5,8
  • José L Domingo4,5
  • Ana Navas-Acien3
  • Gary W Miller3
  • Adrian Covaci2
  • Pablo Gago-Ferrero1
8 affiliations
  1. 1Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC) , Barcelona08034, Spain.
  2. 2Toxicological Centre, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen2610, Belgium.
  3. 3Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University, New York10032, NY, United States.
  4. 4School of Medicine, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health, TecnATox, School of Medicine, Reus43201, Spain.
  5. 5Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Doctor Mallafré Guasch 4, Tarragona43005, Spain.
  6. 6PhD Program "Analytical Chemistry and Environment", Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona08028, Spain.
  7. 7Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Research Unit, University Hospital of Tarragona Joan XXIII-Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Tarragona43005, Spain.
  8. 8Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Tarragona Joan XXIII Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Tarragona43005, Spain.
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Abstract

Chemical exposure during human development, especially in utero, can disrupt many biological processes and increase disease vulnerability. Assessing the chemical landscape across the maternal-fetal interface is challenging. Here we address this challenge by conducting an exposome-based analysis across a suite of integrated maternal-fetal biological compartments: maternal urine, maternal serum, placental tissue, and umbilical cord serum. Using wide-scope liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) in 23 mother-infant dyads from the INSULIN cohort (Spain), we profiled 659 chemicals and transformation products, enabling a comprehensive characterization of prenatal chemical exposure and its compartment-specific distribution. We identified 76 unique compounds, including food additives, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, pesticides, flame retardants, industrial chemicals, and tobacco-related biomarkers. Matrix-resolved profiling revealed distinct compartmentalization patterns, with lipophilicity (logP) emerging as the primary physicochemical determinant of placental retention and transplacental transfer, while active transport mechanisms governed the fetal transfer of selected compounds despite properties inconsistent with passive diffusion. We report, for the first time, the transplacental passage of multiple emerging contaminants, including organophosphate esters, food-related compounds and personal care product ingredients. In contrast, several other contaminants─such as selected biomarkers of plastics, smoke, and personal care products─showed no evidence of transplacental transfer. These findings highlight the value of comprehensive, multi-matrix exposome profiling for assessing prenatal chemical exposures and provide a scalable framework for exposome-wide association studies in pregnancy cohorts and beyond.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{marques2026matrixresolved,
  title = {{Matrix-Resolved Profiling of the Prenatal Chemical Exposome Reveals Selective Placental Retention and Fetal Transfer.}},
  author = {Montse Marquès and Ruben Gil-Solsona and Ana González-Ruiz and Esteban Restrepo-Montes and Ana Megía and Monica Ballesteros and José L Domingo and Ana Navas-Acien and Gary W Miller and Adrian Covaci and Pablo Gago-Ferrero},
  journal = {Environmental science \& technology},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1021/acs.est.6c02272},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42917024},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Matrix-Resolved Profiling of the Prenatal Chemical Exposome Reveals Selective Placental Retention and Fetal Transfer.
AU  - Montse Marquès
AU  - Ruben Gil-Solsona
AU  - Ana González-Ruiz
AU  - Esteban Restrepo-Montes
AU  - Ana Megía
AU  - Monica Ballesteros
AU  - José L Domingo
AU  - Ana Navas-Acien
AU  - Gary W Miller
AU  - Adrian Covaci
AU  - Pablo Gago-Ferrero
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - Environmental science & technology
DO  - 10.1021/acs.est.6c02272
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42917024
AB  - Chemical exposure during human development, especially in utero, can disrupt many biological processes and increase disease vulnerability. Assessing the chemical landscape across the maternal-fetal interface is challenging. Here we address this challenge by conducting an exposome-based analysis across a suite of integrated maternal-fetal biological compartments: maternal urine, maternal serum, placental tissue, and umbilical cord serum. Using wide-scope liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) in 23 mother-infant dyads from the INSULIN cohort (Spain), we profiled 659 chemicals and transformation products, enabling a comprehensive characterization of prenatal chemical exposure and its compartment-specific distribution. We identified 76 unique compounds, including food additives, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, pesticides, flame retardants, industrial chemicals, and tobacco-related biomarkers. Matrix-resolved profiling revealed distinct compartmentalization patterns, with lipophilicity (logP) emerging as the primary physicochemical determinant of placental retention and transplacental transfer, while active transport mechanisms governed the fetal transfer of selected compounds despite properties inconsistent with passive diffusion. We report, for the first time, the transplacental passage of multiple emerging contaminants, including organophosphate esters, food-related compounds and personal care product ingredients. In contrast, several other contaminants─such as selected biomarkers of plastics, smoke, and personal care products─showed no evidence of transplacental transfer. These findings highlight the value of comprehensive, multi-matrix exposome profiling for assessing prenatal chemical exposures and provide a scalable framework for exposome-wide association studies in pregnancy cohorts and beyond.
SN  - 0013-936X
SN  - 1520-5851
ER  -