Nanoparticles are a risk for unborn babies, according to a study
Published: Thursday, Jun 6th 2024, 09:00
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Nanoparticles are a risk for babies in the womb. As a new study by Swiss researchers shows, certain nanoparticles can impair the formation of blood vessels.
They do this by disrupting the production of a large number of messenger substances in the placenta, as the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) announced on Thursday.
The scientists working with Tania Bürki are investigating how the placental barrier copes with nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are only a few millionths of a millimeter in size. Earlier studies had shown that the placenta allows some of the tiny particles to pass through. However, the placental barrier can keep many of them away from the unborn baby.
Experiment on human placenta
However, according to Empa, damage to fetal tissue was still visible in some cases. Even when no particles were detected in the fetus.
They have now shown how this indirect damage occurs in a study in the journal "Advanced Science". They used fully functional human placentas that were made available after planned caesarean sections. They added nanoparticles such as titanium dioxide or diesel soot to the tissue of these placentas.
The experiments showed that nanoparticles in placental tissue disrupt the production of messenger substances. And it is these messenger substances that can trigger serious changes in embryonic development, such as damaged blood vessel formation.
However, initial results show that the development of the nervous system does not appear to be affected. Future analyses will now show which other disorders the nanoparticles can indirectly trigger.
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