Laboratory for Particles-Biology Interactions, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014, St. Gallen, Switzerland; Placenta Lab, Department of Obstetrics, Jena University Hospital, Am Klinikum 1, 07747, Jena, Germany.
Placenta Lab, Department of Obstetrics, Jena University Hospital, Am Klinikum 1, 07747, Jena, Germany.
Placenta. 2021 Jan 15;104:199-207. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2020.12.014. Epub 2020 Dec 28.
Increasing human exposure to nanoparticles (NPs) from various sources raises concerns for public health, especially for vulnerable risk groups like pregnant women and their developing fetuses. However, nanomedicine and the prospect of creating safe and effective NP-based formulations of drugs hold great promise to revolutionize treatment during pregnancy. With maternal and fetal health at stake, risks and opportunities of NPs in pregnancy need to be carefully investigated. Importantly, a comprehensive understanding of NP transport and effects at the placenta is urgently needed considering the central position of the placenta at the maternal-fetal interface and its many essential functions to enable successful pregnancy. The perfusion of human placental tissue provides a great opportunity to achieve predictive human relevant insights, circumventing uncertainties due to considerable differences in placental structure and function across species. Here, we have reviewed the current literature on the ex vivo human placenta perfusion of NPs. From 16 available studies, it was evident that placental uptake and transfer of NPs are highly dependent on their characteristics like size and surface modifications, which is in line with previous observations from in vitro and animal transport studies. These studies further revealed that special considerations apply for the perfusion of NPs and we identified relevant controls that should be implemented in future perfusion studies. While current studies mostly focused on placental transfer of NPs to conclude on potential fetal exposure, the ex vivo placental perfusion model has considerable potential to reveal novel insights on NP effects on placental tissue functionality and signaling that could indirectly affect maternal-fetal health.
人类接触来自各种来源的纳米颗粒 (NPs) 的机会不断增加，这引起了公众健康的关注，尤其是对孕妇和其发育中的胎儿等脆弱的风险群体。然而，纳米医学和创造安全有效的基于 NP 的药物制剂的前景为在怀孕期间实现治疗的革命性变革带来了巨大的希望。由于母婴健康受到威胁，因此需要仔细研究 NP 在怀孕期间的风险和机遇。重要的是，考虑到胎盘在母体-胎儿界面的中心位置及其许多对于成功妊娠至关重要的功能，迫切需要全面了解 NP 在胎盘内的转运和作用。人胎盘组织的灌流为获得可预测的人类相关见解提供了绝佳机会，避免了由于物种间胎盘结构和功能存在很大差异而导致的不确定性。在这里，我们回顾了关于 NPs 的人胎盘离体灌流的现有文献。从 16 项现有研究中可以明显看出，NP 的胎盘摄取和转运高度依赖于其大小和表面修饰等特性，这与之前在体外和动物转运研究中的观察结果一致。这些研究进一步表明，特殊考虑因素适用于 NP 的灌流，我们确定了在未来灌流研究中应实施的相关对照。虽然目前的研究主要集中在 NP 向胎盘的转移以得出潜在的胎儿暴露结论，但离体胎盘灌流模型具有揭示 NP 对胎盘组织功能和信号的影响的巨大潜力，这可能间接影响母婴健康。
