# Metals, critical windows of exposures, epigenetics, and late life cognitive function

> **NIH NIH P42** · HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · 2020 · $225,566

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
We propose to study the relation between prenatal and early postnatal exposure to metals—as well as metal
exposures in adulthood—and cognitive function in older age, and the extent to which early life metal exposures
modify the effects of adult exposures. We will also explore whether those exposures and cognitive outcomes are
associated with changes in blood-derived extracellular vesicle (EV) micro RNA expression (miRNA), which could
represent epigenetic mechanisms underlying associations. We will conduct a cohort study among a subset of
participants in the original St. Louis Baby Tooth (SLBT) study who donated their baby teeth in the 1950s and
1960s. Based on our pilot work, we anticipate easily being able to enroll 1,000 former SLBT participants (500
men and 500 women) from whom we will collect blood and toenail samples, and all of whom will have responded
to questionnaires and undergone cognitive testing. Prenatal and early postnatal exposure of the 1,000 to several
metals will be assessed by measuring metals in baby tooth enamel (using laser-ablation inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry). Adult metal exposures will be assessed by analyzing a series of toenail clippings
collected roughly once a year. EVs will be isolated from the blood samples and analyzed for EV miRNA
expression levels. The SLBT provides a unique setting that will allow us to have individual-level biomarkers of
early life metal exposures in older adults on whom we can conduct cognitive function testing. This study setting
allows us to have an unprecedented ability to examine whether early life exposures are related to late life
cognitive health—a hypothesis suggested from animal research, but extremely hard to test in humans without
the biomarker of such early exposure that the already collected baby teeth in the SLBT can provide.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9840755
- **Project number:** 1P42ES030990-01
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Marc G Weisskopf
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $225,566
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9840755

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9840755, Metals, critical windows of exposures, epigenetics, and late life cognitive function (1P42ES030990-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9840755. Licensed CC0.

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