Abstract
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a widely used perfluorinated compound and known to cause developmental toxicity which includes the increase of resorbed embryo, decrease of fetal survival, and fetal growth retardation. Nevertheless, whether it is associated with alteration of placental development remains unknown. Pregnant mice were gavaged with 0, 2.5, 5, 10 mg PFOA /kg/day from pregnancy day (PD) 1 to PD 13. Results showed that PFOA exposure markedly decreased the placental weight and caused interstitial edema of placenta. Laminin staining indicated that blood sinusoids area was shrunken in placenta of PFOA-exposed mice. Furthermore, PFOA treatment significantly reduced numbers of uNK cells. Western blot analysis revealed that levels of Bax and cleaved-caspase 3 proteins were markedly up-regulated in PFOA-treated groups. In addition, TEM examination showed that PFOA treatment caused rupture of nuclear membrane and nuclear pyknosis and fragmentation. Thus, our results suggested that gestational PFOA exposure significantly inhibited development of early placenta through shrinkage of labyrinth vessels and downregulation of uNK cells and apoptosis induction, which may result in adverse gestational outcomes.
Highlights
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a broadly used perfluorinated chemical, is extensively applied in industrial and consumer fields for super hydrophobic, oleophobic, and hydrophilic characteristics, such as fire-fighting foams, oil-resistant coatings, performance chemical, plumbing thread seal tape, emulsifier, and polishes (Kudo and Kawashima, 2003; Wang et al, 2015b)
Previous studies indicated that PFOA exposure obviously increased the numbers of resorbed embryo and suppressed fetal growth during pregnancy in human and mice (Koustas et al, 2014; Chen et al, 2017)
Our results showed for the first time gestational PFOA exposure markedly inhibited the development of early placenta via shrinkage of labyrinth vessels and downregulation of uNK cells and apoptosis induction in mice, which has possibly contributed to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as early pregnancy loss and decrease of fetal growth. 5 and 10 mg/kg/day PFOA treatment dramatically decreased placental relative weight and resulted in the interstitial edema of placenta
Summary
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a broadly used perfluorinated chemical, is extensively applied in industrial and consumer fields for super hydrophobic, oleophobic, and hydrophilic characteristics, such as fire-fighting foams, oil-resistant coatings, performance chemical, plumbing thread seal tape, emulsifier, and polishes (Kudo and Kawashima, 2003; Wang et al, 2015b). Due to the strongest carbon-fluorine bonds, PFOA was found to be able to resist environmental degradation like metabolism, hydrolysis, and photolysis (Liu et al, 2013; Wang et al, 2015b) and is extremely persistent in the natural world, including surface water, groundwater, house dust, food, and food packaging. It has been detected in different parts of human body (Post et al, 2012). Our aim of this study was to observe the effect and mechanism of maternal PFOA exposure on the growth and development of early placenta
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