Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
Chemosphere. 2014 Feb;96:99-104. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.07.051. Epub 2013 Aug 20.
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) have the potential to produce reactive oxygen species and can be transferred from the mother to the fetal brain. The central nervous system exhibits remarkable plasticity in early life and can be altered significantly by environmental stressors encountered during fetal period. Additionally, prenatal stressors are involved with emotional problems in adulthood. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate whether prenatal exposure to TiO2 NPs could induce oxidative damage in the offspring brain and eventually affect the emotional behaviors in adulthood. The results showed that prenatal exposure to TiO2 NPs impaired the antioxidant status, caused a significant oxidative damage to nucleic acids and lipids in the brain of newborn pups, and enhanced the depressive-like behaviors during adulthood in the force swimming test and the sucrose preference test. These results suggest that the stress during fetal life induced by prenatal exposure to TiO2 NPs could be implicated in depressive-like behaviors in adulthood.
二氧化钛纳米粒子（TiO2 NPs）具有产生活性氧物质的潜力，并可以从母体转移到胎儿大脑。中枢神经系统在生命早期表现出显著的可塑性，并且可以通过在胎儿期遇到的环境应激物显著改变。此外，产前应激物与成年期的情绪问题有关。本研究的目的是评估产前暴露于 TiO2 NPs 是否会在后代大脑中引起氧化损伤，最终影响成年期的情绪行为。结果表明，产前暴露于 TiO2 NPs 会损害抗氧化状态，导致新生幼仔大脑中的核酸和脂质发生显著的氧化损伤，并在强迫游泳试验和蔗糖偏好试验中增强成年期的抑郁样行为。这些结果表明，产前暴露于 TiO2 NPs 引起的胎儿生命期间的应激可能与成年期的抑郁样行为有关。
