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Effects of exposure to nano-plastic drinking during pregnancy on cognitive related proteins in offspring of SD rats

Environmental Pollutants and Bioavailability 2023 12 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Jiang Chen, Ya‐Ping Zhang, Xuan Liu, Kang Li, Huanliang Liu, Wenqing Lai, Yue Shi, Zhuge Xi, Licheng Yan, Lei Tian, Bencheng Lin, Bencheng Lin

Summary

Researchers exposed pregnant rats to nanoplastics and then analyzed protein expression in the hippocampus of their offspring. They found reduced levels of proteins important for neural development and increased levels of inhibitory proteins, with pathway analysis highlighting ferroptosis as a key mechanism. The study suggests that prenatal nanoplastic exposure may contribute to cognitive deficits in offspring by disrupting brain protein expression during development.

Nanoplastics, an emerging contaminant, pose risks to fetal neural development, transferring from mother to offspring via placenta and breast milk. Assessing these risks, hippocampal CA3 samples from nanopolystyrene-exposed rat offspring were proteomically analyzed. Findings revealed reduced expression of neural developmental proteins (KIF21A, STMN2, DMTN, DLG1) and increased inhibitory proteins (PZP, α-2M, FN1, SERPINA1, ALOX15) in the hippocampus. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis highlighted ferroptosis enrichment, validated by significantly expressed ALOX15 and TF proteins. These alterations suggest nanopolystyrene’s potential contribution to cognitive deficits and neurodevelopmental disorders, emphasizing its hazardous impact on neural development. This study provides novel insights into nanopolystyrene’s risks.

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