Black carbon particles found in the placenta of pregnant women

Black carbon particles, which are mainly burned from fossil fuels, are released into the air every dayThese particles are known to have harmful effects on pregnancy outcomes, for example, they are associated with premature birth or low birth weightIn order to improve pregnancy care in contaminated areas, it is important to understand how these particles affect pregnancy - whether they act directly on the fetus or indirectly through the motherresearch at the University of Hasselt in Belgium, Tim Najort and colleagues, in an observational study covering 28 women, provided evidence that black carbon particles can reach the fetal side of the placenta during pregnancyUsing high-resolution imaging, they detected black carbon particles from five premature and 23 full-month-long placentasthe team found that 10 women were exposed to high levels of black carbon particles (2.42 ug/m3) during pregnancy, and 10 were exposed to low levels of black carbon particles (0.63 ug/m3), and that black carbon particles were found to be higher in the placentathe negative effects associated with exposure to air pollution during pregnancy may have a result of the accumulation of black carbon particles in placental tissue, and further research is needed to clarify this issueat the same time,, the researchers also described molecular changes in the placenta caused by air pollution, including epigenetic changes, and this review is published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics.