title: Effects of prenatal exposure to single-wall carbon nanotubes on reproductive performance and neurodevelopment in mice.
abstract: Carbon nanotubes with extraordinary properties may become a novel drug and gene delivery tool in nanomedicine; however, insufficient information is available regarding their biosafety. Therefore, this work was performed to study the effect of prenatal exposure of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on reproductive and neurobehavioral endpoints in mice. Thirty pregnant female mice were assigned to three groups (n = 10 for each group). The two treated groups were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with 1 or 10 mg/kg body weight (b.w.) of SWCNTs suspended in 1 ml of phosphate buffer saline (PBS) on gestational days 0 and 3. The control group was injected i.p. with an equal volume of PBS. The neurobehavioral ontogeny of pups was evaluated using a modified Fox battery. A decrease in litter size on postnatal day 2 was observed in the group treated with 10 mg/kg b.w. of SWCNTs whereas no significant differences between groups were observed in any other parameters. The behavioral development of pups did not show significant differences during growth except for the surface righting reflex, which showed significant delay compared to control in the group treated with 1 mg/kg b.w. SWCNTs. Moreover, exposed offspring (10 mg/kg b.w. SWCNTs) displayed enhanced anxiety in the elevated plus maze; however, other ethological analysis (Morris water maze and open field test) did not show behavioral changes in the experimental groups. In conclusion, the present results demonstrated small changes in offspring sensory and motor development following exposure to SWCNTs and support the idea that SWCNT risk assessment merits further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiology, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ivani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology 1214, Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.affiliation: Division of Physiology, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Reza Fatemi
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Tabatabaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Nanotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran siadmoradi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Syedmoradi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D023381:Endpoint Determination; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon
keywords: Carbon nanotubes; fox battery; mice; neurobehavioral development; prenatal exposure; reproductive endpoints