Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China Beijing 100190, China.
Small. 2013 Jul 22;9(14):2432-9. doi: 10.1002/smll.201300817. Epub 2013 Jun 13.
The materno-fetal transfer of nanoparticles is a critical issue in designing theranoustic nanoparticles for in vivo applications during pregnancy. Recent studies have reported that certain nanoparticles can cross the placental barrier in healthy pregnant animals depending on the size and surface modification of the nanoparticles and the developmental stages of the fetuses. However, materno-fetal transfer under pathological pregnant conditions has not been examined so far. Here, it is shown that intrauterine inflammation can enhance the materno-fetal transfer of nanoparticles in the late gestation stage of murine pregnancy in a size-dependent manner. Three different-sized gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with diameters of 3 (Au3), 13 (Au13) and 32 (Au32) nm are applied. The accumulation of Au3 and Au13 nanoparticles in the fetuses is significantly increased in intrauterine inflammatory mice compared with healthy control mice: the concentration of Au3 is much higher than Au13 in fetal tissues of intrauterine inflammatory mice. In contrast, Au32 nanoparticles cannot cross the placental barrier either in healthy or in intrauterine inflammatory mice. The possible underlying mechanism of the increased materno-fetal transfer of small-sized nanoparticles on pathological conditions is inferred to be the structural and functional abnormalities of the placenta under intrauterine inflammation. The size of the nanoparticles is one of the critical factors which determines the extent of fetal exposure to nanoparticles in murine pregnancy under inflammatory conditions.
纳米颗粒向母体-胎儿的转移是设计用于治疗的声动力学纳米颗粒在怀孕期间进行体内应用的一个关键问题。最近的研究报告表明，某些纳米颗粒可以在健康的怀孕动物中穿过胎盘屏障，这取决于纳米颗粒的大小和表面修饰以及胎儿的发育阶段。然而，迄今为止尚未检查病理妊娠条件下的母体-胎儿转移。在这里，研究表明，宫内炎症可以以依赖于纳米颗粒大小的方式增强妊娠晚期小鼠的母体-胎儿向纳米颗粒的转移。应用了三种不同大小的金纳米颗粒（Au NPs），直径分别为 3（Au3）、13（Au13）和 32（Au32）nm。与健康对照组小鼠相比，宫内炎症小鼠的胎儿中 Au3 和 Au13 纳米颗粒的积累显著增加：在宫内炎症小鼠的胎儿组织中，Au3 的浓度远高于 Au13。相比之下，Au32 纳米颗粒无论在健康还是宫内炎症小鼠中都不能穿过胎盘屏障。在病理条件下，小尺寸纳米颗粒向母体-胎儿转移增加的潜在机制推断为宫内炎症下胎盘的结构和功能异常。在炎症条件下的妊娠小鼠中，纳米颗粒的大小是决定胎儿暴露于纳米颗粒程度的关键因素之一。
