Azithromycin exposure during pregnancy disturbs the fetal development and its characteristic of multi-organ toxicity

Azithromycin is widely used in clinical practice for treating maternal infections during pregnancy. Meanwhile, azithromycin, as an "emerging pollutant", is increasingly polluting the environment due to the rapidly increasing usage (especially after the COVID-19). Previous studies have suggested a possible teratogenic risk of prenatal azithromycin exposure (PAzE), but its effects on fetal multi-organ development are still unclear. This study aimed to explore the potential impacts of PAzE.

We focused on pregnancy outcomes, maternal/fetal serum phenotypes, and fetal multiple organ development in mice at different doses (50/200 mg/kg·d) during late pregnancy or at 200 mg/kg·d during different stages (mid-/late-pregnancy) and courses (single-/multi-course).

The results showed PAzE increased the rate of the absorbed fetus during mid-pregnancy and increased the intrauterine growth retardation rate (IUGR) during late pregnancy. PAzE caused multiple blood phenotypic changes in maternal and fetal mice, among which the number and degree of changes in fetal blood indicators were more significant. Moreover, PAzE inhibited long bone/cartilage development and adrenal steroid synthesis, promoting hepatic lipid production and ovarian steroid synthesis in varying degrees. The order of severity might be bone/cartilage > liver > gonads > other organs. PAzE-induced multi-organ alterations differed in stages, courses doses and fetal sex. The most apparent changes might be in high-dose, mid-pregnancy, multi-course, and female, while there was no typical rule for a dose-response relationship.

This study confirmed PAzE could cause fetal developmental abnormalities and multi-organ functional alterations, which deepens the comprehensive understanding of azithromycin's fetal developmental toxicity.