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Nanotoxicology

Nanoparticles versus the placenta

Nature Nanotechnology volume 6, pages 263–264 (2011)Cite this article

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Pregnant mice treated 70-nm silica nanoparticles or 35-nm titanium dioxide nanoparticles suffer damage to the placenta and fetus, whereas larger nanoparticles do not have an adverse impact.

As the likelihood of humans being exposed to nanomaterials increases, there are growing concerns about the effects of nanoparticles on pregnant women1,2 and the possibility that they can cross the placenta and cause toxicity in the fetus3,4,5,6. Now, writing in Nature Nanotechnology, Kohei Yamashita, Yasuo Yoshioka, Yasuo Tsutsumi and colleagues confirm that some nanoparticles can cross the placenta and accumulate in fetuses in pregnant mice7. Moreover, they also show that nanoparticles can restrict the growth of the fetus through damage to the placenta, although these effects could be prevented by changing their surface charge.

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Figure 1: Nanoparticles (shown in red) injected into the maternal blood supply (top) must pass through three layers of trophoblast cells to enter the fetal blood.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jeffrey Keelan is in the School of Women's and Infants' Health, University of Western Australia at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia,

    Jeffrey A. Keelan

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  1. Jeffrey A. Keelan
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Correspondence to Jeffrey A. Keelan.

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Keelan, J. Nanoparticles versus the placenta. Nature Nanotech 6, 263–264 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.65

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.65

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