Baotou Medical College, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, China.
Inner Mongolia Institute of Digestive Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Nov 12;12:1470502. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1470502. eCollection 2024.
Rare earth elements (REEs) are widely used in plenty of fields. REEs have significant neurotoxicity and it may adversely affect the development of cognitive. For example, neodymium will causing neurological damage through penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, whether it disrupts the balance of brain-gut axis (BGA) crosstalk and affects the intestinal microecology disorder of host is still unclear. This study investigated the neural damage on children caused by maternal exposure to Neodymium oxide (NdO) during pregnancy, and its involved mechanism of BGA injury.
We used rat model to investigated the mechanisms of the offspring's neural damage that NdO exposure in pregnancy. To verify the neural damage of offspring rats, we examed BBB-related factors, such like glutamate and ROS levels in brain tissue, behavioral tests, hippocampal and cortical damage, as well as changes in gut microbiota, intestinal mucosal barrier, and SCFAs in the intestine. Also, we observed some specific indicators of intestinal immune barrier function and gut nerve-related indicators.
Maternal NdO exposure reduced the content of offspring tight junction proteins, increased BBB permeability, leading to Nd accumulation and brain tissue inflammation, affecting offspring's neural development and weakening their spatial learning ability. NdO also disrupted BBB integrity by regulating SCFAs and BGA. Probiotic intervention in the offspring rats exposed to 2% NdO showed significant recovery of inflammation in both brain and colon tissues, and reduced BBB permeability.
Maternal exposure to NdO affects the offspring's BGA, targeting brain and colon tissues, increasing BBB permeability, affecting neural development, causing damage to the intestinal mucosa, and impacting children's gut development. Probiotics can alleviate these effects. These findings provide valuable insights into understanding the neurodevelopmental and intestinal developmental toxicity of NdO and its prevention and treatment. It also calls for a comprehensive assessment of the health risks of susceptible populations to NdO, such as pregnant women. It may providing theoretical basis for preventing and controlling neodymium-induced harm in children by examing the repair mechanism of the damage through probiotic intervention.
稀土元素（REEs）广泛应用于众多领域。 REEs 具有明显的神经毒性，可能会对认知发育产生不利影响。例如，钕通过穿透血脑屏障（BBB）会导致神经损伤。然而，它是否会破坏脑肠轴（BGA）的平衡并影响宿主的肠道微生态失调尚不清楚。本研究调查了母体在怀孕期间暴露于氧化钕（NdO）对儿童的神经损伤及其对 BGA 损伤的相关机制。
我们使用大鼠模型研究了 NdO 暴露于妊娠期间导致后代神经损伤的机制。为了验证后代大鼠的神经损伤，我们检测了大脑组织中与 BBB 相关的因素，如谷氨酸和 ROS 水平、行为测试、海马和皮质损伤以及肠道微生物群、肠黏膜屏障和肠道中 SCFAs 的变化。此外，我们观察了一些特定的肠道免疫屏障功能和肠神经相关指标。
母体 NdO 暴露降低了后代紧密连接蛋白的含量，增加了 BBB 的通透性，导致 Nd 积累和脑组织炎症，影响后代的神经发育并削弱其空间学习能力。NdO 还通过调节 SCFAs 和 BGA 破坏 BBB 完整性。在暴露于 2%NdO 的后代大鼠中进行益生菌干预，显示出对大脑和结肠组织中炎症的明显恢复，并降低了 BBB 的通透性。
母体暴露于 NdO 会影响后代的 BGA，针对大脑和结肠组织，增加 BBB 的通透性，影响神经发育，导致肠黏膜损伤，并影响儿童的肠道发育。益生菌可以缓解这些影响。这些发现为了解 NdO 的神经发育和肠道发育毒性及其预防和治疗提供了有价值的见解。它还呼吁对 NdO 易感人群（如孕妇）的健康风险进行全面评估。通过益生菌干预检查损伤的修复机制，可能为预防和控制儿童钕诱导的伤害提供理论依据。
