Ambient black carbon particles reach the fetal side of human placenta

Abstract Particle transfer across the placenta has been suggested but to date, no direct evidence in real-life, human context exists. Here we report the presence of black carbon (BC) particles as part of combustion-derived particulate matter in human placentae using white-light generation under femtosecond pulsed illumination. BC is identified in all screened placentae, with an average (SD) particle count of 0.95 × 10 4 (0.66 × 10 4 ) and 2.09 × 10 4 (0.9 × 10 4 ) particles per mm 3 for low and high exposed mothers, respectively. Furthermore, the placental BC load is positively associated with mothers’ residential BC exposure during pregnancy (0.63–2.42 µg per m 3 ). Our finding that BC particles accumulate on…

• BF
  Belgian Federal Science Policy Office

  Award: P7/05
• FW
  Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

  Awards: G082317N, 12P6819N
• KO
  Kom op tegen Kanker