Nanoparticles may affect the embryo during pregnancy

GENEVA.— Some of the nanoparticles present in environmental pollution and in many products that we consume could alter the protective function of the placenta during pregnancywith indirect damage to embryonic development, a study warns.

The research, carried out by the team at the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Science and Technology (BUT), He argues that nanoparticles present in placental tissue disrupt the production of a large number of pregnancy hormones, preventing the formation of blood vessels in the egg.

“We absorb these substances from the environment through our food and cosmetics or from the air we breathe,” explained Tina Bürki, an EMPA expert and author of the paper.

To reach this conclusion, the scientists analyzed the consequences of common nanoparticles, such as titanium dioxideused as a food coloring, in fully functional human placentas discarded after cesarean sections.

Thus, placentas contaminated by nanoparticles have been shown to have potential harmful effects on the embryo, as low birth weight and development of autism and respiratory diseases.

The team also analyzed these consequences in laboratory models using chicken eggs and observed that, while In uncontaminated eggs, the blood vessels of the egg grew at high speed and density. to allow the development of the embryo, in the contaminated ones the vessels presented abnormalities that prevented them from growing.

However, the study warns that, although communication between the placenta and the fetus can be altered by the presence of nanoparticlesthe development of the embryo’s nervous system, however, does not seem to be affected.

Experts therefore point out that it is essential that future analyses now show what other disorders nanoparticles may indirectly cause in embryonic development.

“Since the effects may have repercussions on the health of the pregnant woman and on the development of the child, this knowledge must be taken into account when assessing the risks associated with nanomaterials,” concluded Bürki.