Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 18, 2025
Modeling Encephalopathy of Prematurity Using Prenatal Hypoxia-ischemia with Intra-amniotic Lipopolysaccharide in Rats
Published on: November 20, 2015
Exposure to carbon black nanoparticles during pregnancy aggravates lipopolysaccharide-induced lung injury in
Qianghu Tang1, Baijie Tu1, Xuejun Jiang2
1Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Management, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
Insights
Pregnancy exposure to carbon black nanoparticles (CBNPs) increases offspring susceptibility to lung injury. This effect is intergenerational and linked to DNA hypermethylation, impacting F1 and F2 generations.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Toxicology
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Carbon black nanoparticles (CBNPs) are widely used, with known risks including inflammation and genotoxicity in pregnant dams.
- The impact of prenatal CBNP exposure on offspring's susceptibility to environmental challenges remains largely uninvestigated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if prenatal exposure to CBNPs enhances the susceptibility of offspring to acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
- To investigate the intergenerational effects of prenatal CBNP exposure on lung injury response in F1 and F2 offspring.
Main Methods:
- Pregnant mice were intranasally exposed to CBNPs or a control from gestational day 9 to 18.
- F1 and F2 offspring were intratracheally instilled with LPS to model acute lung injury.
- Lung injury parameters including histopathology, vascular leakage, MPO activity, and inflammatory signaling were assessed.
- DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt) expression and DNA methylation levels were analyzed in offspring.
Main Results:
- Offspring prenatally exposed to CBNPs exhibited significantly exacerbated LPS-induced lung injury compared to controls.
- This heightened susceptibility was observed in both F1 and F2 generations, indicating an intergenerational effect.
- Prenatal CBNP exposure led to upregulated Dnmt expression and increased DNA hypermethylation in offspring.
Conclusions:
- Prenatal exposure to carbon black nanoparticles enhances offspring's sensitivity to LPS-induced lung injury in an intergenerational manner.
- The observed intergenerational effects are potentially mediated by CBNP-induced DNA hypermethylation in the offspring.
Abstract:
Carbon black nanoparticles (CBNPs) are one of the most frequently used nanoparticles. Exposure to CBNPs during pregnancy (PrE to CBNPs) can directly induce inflammation, lung injury, and genotoxicity in dams and results in abnormalities in offspring. However, whether exposure to CBNPs during pregnancy enhances the susceptibility of offspring to environmental stimuli remains unknown. To address this issue, in this study, we intranasally treated pregnant mice with mock or CBNPs from gestational day (GD) 9 to GD18, and F1 and F2 offspring were normally obtained. By intratracheal instillation of mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to trigger a classic animal model for acute lung injury, we intriguingly found that after LPS treatment, F1 and F2 offspring after exposure during pregnancy to CBNPs both exhibited more pronounced lung injury symptoms, including more degenerative histopathological changes, vascular leakage, elevated MPO activity, and activation of inflammation-related signaling transduction, compared with F1 and F2 offspring in the mock group, suggesting PrE to CBNPs would aggravate LPS-induced lung injury in offspring, and this effect was intergenerational. We also observed that PrE to CBNPs upregulated the mRNA expression of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmt) 1/3a/3b and DNA hypermethylation in both F1 and F2 offspring, which might partially account for the intergenerational effect. Together, our study demonstrates for the first time that PrE to CBNPs can enhance sensitivity to LPS in both F1 and F2 offspring, and this intergenerational effect may be related to DNA hypermethylation caused by CBNPs.
More Related Videos
08:50A Murine Model of Fetal Exposure to Maternal Inflammation to Study the Effects of Acute Chorioamnionitis on Newborn Intestinal Development
Published on: June 24, 2020
07:08Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018