Maternal Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution and Engineered Nanoparticles: Reproductive and Developmental Effects

1.1 Ambient air pollution Uncontrolled dispersion of engineered nanoparticles may affect human health, similarly to what has been found for exposure to particles in ambient air. Particulates (in contrast to gases) are suspected to be the major factor driving the adverse effects of e.g. traffic air pollution. Human exposure to ultrafine particles in the ambient air has been associated with adverse health effects e.g. lung cancer, allergy, pulmonary and cardiovascular disease. Less is known of the effects of exposure to nanoparticles during pregnancy. Epidemiological studies indicate that exposure to environmental air pollutants (especially particulates) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as premature birth, reduced birth weight, small size for gestational age (Shah & Balkhair, 2010) and stillbirth (Pope et al., 2010). Several mechanisms, including particle induced oxidative stress and pulmonary and placental inflammation, have been suggested (Kannan et al., 2007). DNA damage is reported to increase after maternal exposure to ambient air pollution during pregnancy, reviewed in (Kannan et al., 2007). Effects include increased total DNA adducts in placental tissue (Šrám et al., 1999), bulky DNA adducts and micronuclei in umbilical blood of newborns (Pedersen et al., 2009), and stable chromosomal aberration frequencies in cord blood (Bocskay et al., 2005). Increased systemic inflammation and levels of urinary 8oxodeoxyguanosine (a marker of oxidative damage to DNA) have been reported in children born and raised in areas with high air pollution (Calderon-Garciduenas et al., 2008; Švecová et al., 2009). Maternal exposure during pregnancy to traffic-related or industrial air pollution has furthermore been associated with adverse effects in the children related to cognitive and perceptual performance, motor function and language