Association between maternal manganese exposure during pregnancy and motor, cognitive and behavioral development in children

As a micronutrient essential element involved in bone mineralization, protein and energy metabolism, metabolic regulation, manganese plays a vital role in normal growth and development, especially in brain development. Neurotoxicity of manganese occurs when the intake dose exceeds manganese homeostasis. Recent studies have shown that excessive levels of manganese during pregnancy can negatively affect neurodevelopment and behavior in children.This paper reviews the studies on the relationship between maternal manganese exposure during pregnancy and children neurodevelopment, such as motor ability, cognitive function, and behavior problems, as well as possible mechanism of manganese induced neurotoxicity, and suggests that future efforts should be made to explore stable, accurate and widely recognized biomarkers to reduce the uncontrollable factors and increase the comparability of relevant researches.