Nanoparticles can cross the placenta during pregnancy, potentially affecting the fetus

Scientists at Rutgers University, studying the factors that produce low-birth-weight babies, found that inhaled nanoparticles—microparticles made by humans, are so tiny that they cannot be seen under conventional microscopes and are found in thousands of It is found in a variety of common products that cross the natural protective barrier that normally protects the fetus

Scientists report in the medical journal Placenta that they were able to track the movement of nanoparticles made of the metal titanium dioxide in pregnant rats

"These particles are small and hard to find," said author Phoebe Stapleton, an assistant professor in Rutgers' Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and a faculty member in the Rutgers Institute for Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences.

Most nanoparticles are engineered, and few are naturally occurring

Nanoparticles are so named because they are smaller than 100 nanometers, which means they are tens of thousands of times smaller in diameter than a single human hair

During the experiment, the scientists were surprised to find that titanium dioxide was also detected in "control" mice that did not inhale the nanoparticles

The research stems from an investigation into the causes of low birth weight in human infants

According to Stapleton, one theory is that mothers who gave birth to low-birth-weight babies may have inhaled harmful particulate matter

"Now that we know that nanoparticles migrate from the mother's lungs to the placenta and fetal tissue, we can set out to answer additional questions," Stapleton said

Other Rutgers authors on the paper include Brian Buckley and Kathryn Doherty of the Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, and Jeanine De Errico of the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and Jarret Reyes George