PFAS mixture disrupts normal placental development which is important for a healthy pregnancy
UFZ researchers use 3D placenta model for PFAS risk assessment
2025-12-04
(Press-News.org)
The placenta regulates the exchange of nutrients, gases, and metabolic products between a pregnant woman and the foetus, thereby ensuring healthy development. The first 90 days of pregnancy are particularly important, because the baby’s organs begin to develop during this sensitive period. Although the placenta has barrier mechanisms designed to prevent the passage of dangerous substances into the baby, PFAS can accumulate in the body, interfere with foetal development, and, in severe cases, increase the risk of miscarriage. “For an accurate risk assessment, it is important to document PFAS exposure more precisely, especially during the first trimester of pregnancy”, says UFZ reproductive scientist Dr Violeta Stojanovska, author and principal investigator. So far, little is known about this because most reproductive studies rely on PFAS detection in the blood or the placenta obtained in the final months of pregnancy or on experiments performed in simplified cellular models that use individual PFAS compounds rather than mixtures.
In their study, conducted together with the Dessau Municipal Hospital, an academic hospital of the Brandenburg Medical School, the UFZ researchers chose a different approach and extracted six PFAS compounds (perfluorononanoic acid, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, perfluorobutanoic acid, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid and perfluorodecanoic acid) from first trimester placental tissue of 31 women. “These PFAS were relevant for our investigations because we detected them in high concentrations in placenta and there was literature indication that they might trigger pregnancy complications”, says doctoral candidate and lead author of the study Yu Xia. These six compounds were then used to obtain a placenta-relevant PFAS mixture that later was tested in a 3D trophoblast model to simulate placental exposure.
Trophoblasts are placental cells that invade maternal tissue early in pregnancy and establish contact with the mother’s bloodstream. “The main advantage of the 3D models is that trophoblast cells grow in a spherical structure, which closely mimics the cell organisation seen in early placental development, unlike the flat arrangement in 2D cultures”, says Stojanovska. With these 3D models the research team was able to investigate various placental functions, including hormone production and invasiveness.
Exposing the 3D trophoblast models to the PFAS mixture interfered with the optimal placenta function. The placental cells showed disrupted ability to invade. This invasiveness is crucial for optimal foetal growth by facilitating nutrient transfer from the mother.
Gene expression analysis revealed that apoptosis (programmed cell death) and proliferation (the cell growth needed for placental development), processes important for the development of the placenta, are also impaired by PFAS. “The two processes are kept in natural balance during the development of the placenta. However, this balance is disturbed when the placenta is exposed to high PFAS concentrations”, says Stojanovska.
The research team also found that PFAS exposure reduces β-hCG production, which is the first hormone produced by the placenta and a key regulator of pregnancy: it stimulates progesterone production, which creates healthy uterine lining, and helps prevent foetus rejection. Reduced production of β-hCG could therefore indicate hormone regulation disorders. “These minor changes haven’t received much attention so far, but taken collectively might cause significant impact on pregnancy progression”, says Stojanovska.
“The study emphasises the harmful effects of the PFAS mixture on trophoblast function and thus the potential risks to placental health and the outcome of the pregnancy”, says Prof Ana Zenclussen, Head of the UFZ Department of Environmental Immunology. 3D trophoblast models are extremely helpful because they provide a more comprehensive understanding of PFAS risk assessment.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2025-12-04
HONOLULU, Dec. 4, 2025 — Acoustic signals have been important markers during NASA’s Mars missions. Measurements of sound can provide information both about Mars itself — such as turbulence in its atmosphere, changes in its temperature, and its surface conditions — and about the movement of the Mars rovers.
Using these sound measurements to the best extent possible requires an accurate understanding of how sound propagates on Mars. Charlie Zheng, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Utah State University, and his doctoral student Hayden Baird, who is partially sponsored by the Utah Space Grant Consortium Graduate ...
2025-12-04
Higher plant diversity in agricultural grasslands increases yields with lower inputs of nitrogen fertiliser. That is the headline finding of a landmark, international study led by Trinity College Dublin that paints a promising picture for more sustainable agriculture.
And in further good news, the research shows that under warmer temperatures, the yield benefits of more diverse grasslands further increase. This highlights the climate adaptation potential of multispecies mixtures in an era where the global climate crisis is driving rising temperatures in many countries.
The research, published today in leading ...
2025-12-04
When DNA breaks, cells must repair it accurately to prevent harmful mutations. Researchers have discovered that during a key repair process called homologous recombination, the cell uses loops in its DNA structure to speed up the search for an intact copy of the damaged region. These loops act like shortcuts, allowing the repair machinery to scan along the chromosome in a directed way rather than randomly. This finding, published today in Science, reveals an unexpected function for chromatin loops—not just in organizing the genome, but also in helping maintain its integrity.
“Homologous recombination is a key DNA repair process often linked to cancer, but ...
2025-12-04
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A short interaction with a chatbot can meaningfully shift a voter’s opinion about a presidential candidate or proposed policy in either direction, new Cornell University research finds.
The potential for artificial intelligence to affect election results is a major public concern. Two new papers – with experiments conducted in four countries – demonstrate that chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs) are quite effective at political persuasion, moving opposition voters’ preferences ...
2025-12-04
Even small, open-source AI chatbots can be effective political persuaders, according to a new study. The findings provide a comprehensive empirical map of the mechanisms behind AI political persuasion, revealing that post-training and prompting – not model scale and personalization – are the dominant levers. It also reveals evidence of a persuasion-accuracy tradeoff, reshaping how policymakers and researchers should conceptualize the risks of persuasive AI. There is a growing concern amongst many that advances in AI – particularly conversational ...
2025-12-04
Microscopic analysis of an unconventional throat bone helps resolve a long-standing debate in paleontology, researchers report, revealing evidence that Nanotyrannus lancensis – long thought by many to be a teenage Tyrannosaurus rex – was in fact a fully mature, distinct species of smaller tyrannosaurid. Because the fossil record is often fragmentary, it is difficult to discern the full range of distinct dinosaur species that lived in ancient ecosystems. This is made more challenging when trying to determine true new species from juveniles of known ones. One of the most ...
2025-12-04
Inside human cells, biology has pulled off the ultimate packing job, figuring out how to fit six feet of DNA into a nucleus about one-tenth as wide as a human hair while making sure the all-important molecules can still function.
To compress itself, DNA wraps around proteins to form nucleosomes that are linked together like beads on a string. These strings coil into compact chromatin fibers, which are further condensed inside the nucleus.
It was unclear how this additional compaction process happened. Then, in 2019, HHMI Investigator Michael Rosen and his team at UT Southwestern Medical Center reported that synthetic nucleosomes created ...
2025-12-04
Los Angeles, CA (December 4, 2025)—For decades, paleontologists argued over the lone skull used to establish the distinct species Nanotyrannus. Was it truly a separate species or simply a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex? A new paper published in Science has definitively shown that Nanotyrannus is, in fact, nearly fully grown and not an immature T. rex, at the same time revealing new insights into how these giant predators achieved such terrifying sizes so quickly.
A multi-institutional team, including Dinosaur Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Zach Morris, examined the much-debated Nanotyrannus holotype—the specimen used to name ...
2025-12-04
New study confirms Nanotyrannus holotype was diminutive, distinct species from T. rex
New research from a team including the University of Nebraska State Museum’s Ashley Poust further moves a decades-long scientific debate toward a conclusion — the Nanotyrannus, a teacup variation of the T. rex, did exist.
Poust and the team, led by Christopher Griffin of Princeton University, used a novel approach to determine maturity of the holotype of Nanotyrannus, a fossil skull at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. They examined the ceratobranchial, or hyoid bone, which was intact with the skull, and determined it was an adult when it ...
2025-12-04
Astronomer Michael R. Blanton will join the Carnegie Science Observatories as its 12th director, overseeing astronomical research in Pasadena and telescope operations at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, one of the world’s elite observing sites. Blanton joins Carnegie Science from New York University, where he is a Professor of Physics and the Director of the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics. He succeeds John Mulchaey, who was named Carnegie Science President in late 2024.
Blanton’s research has centered primarily on conducting large astronomical surveys to place ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] PFAS mixture disrupts normal placental development which is important for a healthy pregnancy
UFZ researchers use 3D placenta model for PFAS risk assessment
