posted on 2025-05-10, 18:52authored byBaoming Wang, Yik-Lung Chan, Jiayan Liao, David G. Chapman, Paul S. Foster, Sonia Saad, Hui Chen, Brian G. Oliver, Gerard Li, Kin Fai Ho, Ayad G. Anwer, Bradford J. Smith, Hai Guo, Bin Jalaludin, Cristan Herbert, Paul S. Thomas
Relatively little is known about the transgenerational effects of chronic maternal exposure to low-level traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) on the offspring lung health, nor are the effects of removing such exposure before pregnancy. Female BALB/c mice were exposed to PM2.5 (PM2.5, 5 µg/day) for 6 weeks before mating and during gestation and lactation; in a subgroup, PM was removed when mating started to model mothers moving to cleaner areas during pregnancy to protect their unborn child (Pre-exposure). Lung pathology was characterised in both dams and offspring. A subcohort of female offspring was also exposed to ovalbumin to model allergic airways disease. PM2.5 and Pre-exposure dams exhibited airways hyper-responsiveness (AHR) with mucus hypersecretion, increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial dysfunction in the lungs. Female offspring from PM2.5 and Pre-exposure dams displayed AHR with increased lung inflammation and mitochondrial ROS production, while males only displayed increased lung inflammation. After the ovalbumin challenge, AHR was increased in female offspring from PM2.5 dams compared with those from control dams. Using an in vitro model, the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoQ reversed mitochondrial dysfunction by PM stimulation, suggesting that the lung pathology in offspring is driven by dysfunctional mitochondria. In conclusion, chronic exposure to low doses of PM2.5 exerted transgenerational impairment on lung health.
History
Journal title
Antioxidants
Volume
10
Issue
7
Pagination
1029-1029
Publisher
MDPI AG
Language
en, English
College/Research Centre
College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing
School
School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy
Rights statement
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/