Abstract
Introduction
Plastics used in everyday materials accumulate as waste in the environment and degrade over time. The impacts of the resulting particulate micro- and nanoplastics on human health remain largely unknown. In pregnant mice, we recently demonstrated that exposure to nanoplastics throughout gestation and during lactation resulted in changes in brain structure detected on MRI. One possible explanation for this abnormal postnatal brain development is altered fetal brain metabolism.
Objectives
To determine the effect of maternal exposure to nanoplastics on fetal brain metabolism.
Methods
Healthy pregnant CD-1 mice were exposed to 50 nm polystyrene nanoplastics at a concentration of 106 ng/L through drinking water during gestation. Fetal brain samples were collected at embryonic day 17.5 (n = 18–21 per group per sex) and snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen. Magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance was used to determine metabolite profiles and their relative concentrations in the fetal brain.
Results
The relative concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), creatine and glucose were found to decrease by 40%, 21% and 30% respectively following maternal nanoplastic exposure when compared to the controls (p < 0.05). The change in relative concentration of asparagine with nanoplastic exposure was dependent on fetal sex (p < 0.005).
Conclusion
Maternal exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics caused abnormal fetal brain metabolism in mice. The present study demonstrates the potential impacts of nanoplastic exposure during fetal development and motivates further studies to evaluate the risk to human pregnancies.
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Data availability
Datasets collected and analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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This study was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF).
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G.V.M., K.L.S. performed the experiments. G.V.M., L.S.C analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. G.V.M., N.E.H., L.S.C. interpreted the results and prepared the figures. G.V.M., C.M.S., J.G.S., C.K.M., A.A.B., J.C.K., P.A.H., A.J.S., M.J.S., K.J.J., L.S.C designed the research study. G.V.M., N.E.H., K.L.S., C.M.S., J.G.S., C.K.M., A.A.B., J.C.K., P.A.H., A.J.S., M.J.S., K.J.J., L.S.C. approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Mercer, G.V., Harvey, N.E., Steeves, K.L. et al. Maternal exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics alters fetal brain metabolism in mice. Metabolomics 19, 96 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-023-02061-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-023-02061-3