Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
203,234 studies31 sourcesUpdated 9 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDNature biomedical engineering

A bioengineered model of human placental exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy.

  • Pouria Fattahi1
  • Mousa Younesi1
  • Won Dong Lee2,3
  • Keumrai Whang4
  • Se-Jeong Kim1
  • Taewook Kang4,5
  • Lauren M Aleksunes6
  • Dan Dongeun Huh7,8,9,10
10 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
  2. 2Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
  3. 3Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
  4. 4Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  5. 5Institute of Integrated Biotechnology, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  6. 6Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
  7. 7Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. [email protected].
  8. 8Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. [email protected].
  9. 9NSF Science and Technology Center for Engineering Mechanobiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. [email protected].
  10. 10Center for Innovation and Precision Dentistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. [email protected].
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Exposure of pregnant women to toxic metals is an environmental health issue associated with pregnancy complications. Advancing our biological understanding of this problem and mitigating its adverse effects have been challenged by the ethical constraints of human participant research during pregnancy. Here we present a microphysiological system to experimentally simulate and investigate human placental exposure to environmental metals in maternal circulation. An in vitro analogue of the maternal-fetal interface and its dynamic tissue-specific environment are constructed using primary human placental cells grown in a microfluidic device. Using cadmium as a representative toxicant, we show how this system can be used to model the human placental barrier subjected to the flow of cadmium-containing maternal blood and its adverse biological responses and impaired tissue function. Through mechanistic investigation of maternal-to-fetal cadmium transport in this model, we reveal that efflux membrane transporters expressed by trophoblasts may play a protective role against cadmium-induced toxicity. Finally, we demonstrate the potential use of the microphysiological system for discovering metabolic biomarkers for detection and monitoring of cadmium-induced placental dysfunction.

Related

  1. Multi-site metabolomics reveals one-carbon and placental steroid disruption in maternal pre-pregnancy obesity linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes
    Ke Ye, Yan Liu, Jinghui Zou +2
    Frontiers in medicinePeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  2. The Least Understood Placental Galectins: Galectin-14 and Galectin-16 in Human Pregnancy and Placental Biology
    Zoltan Kozinszky, Yakov Rachamin Karo, Jakó Mária +10
    Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)Peer-reviewedCC BYFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  3. Placental Growth Factor Trajectories During Pregnancy and Child ADHD
    Serena B. Gumusoglu, Alexandria Betz, Andy Storm +2
    JAMA PsychiatryPeer-reviewedLicence not statedFull text1 citedPsychiatry & mental healthPMC
  4. Association of Placental Morphological Abnormalities with Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: A Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study
    Hui Tao, Lei Sun, Ruilin Ma +8
    International Journal of Women's HealthPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC 4.0Full textObstetrics, gynaecology & paediatricsPMC
  5. Placental programming of metabolic diseases: molecular pathways from maternal pregnancy complications to offspring metabolic risk
    Duo Zhou
    Frontiers in EndocrinologyPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textObstetrics, gynaecology & paediatricsCrossrefDOAJ

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{fattahi2026bioengineered,
  title = {{A bioengineered model of human placental exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy.}},
  author = {Pouria Fattahi and Mousa Younesi and Won Dong Lee and Keumrai Whang and Se-Jeong Kim and Taewook Kang and Lauren M Aleksunes and Dan Dongeun Huh},
  journal = {Nature biomedical engineering},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1038/s41551-026-01801-9},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42855589},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A bioengineered model of human placental exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy.
AU  - Pouria Fattahi
AU  - Mousa Younesi
AU  - Won Dong Lee
AU  - Keumrai Whang
AU  - Se-Jeong Kim
AU  - Taewook Kang
AU  - Lauren M Aleksunes
AU  - Dan Dongeun Huh
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/09
JO  - Nature biomedical engineering
DO  - 10.1038/s41551-026-01801-9
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42855589
AB  - Exposure of pregnant women to toxic metals is an environmental health issue associated with pregnancy complications. Advancing our biological understanding of this problem and mitigating its adverse effects have been challenged by the ethical constraints of human participant research during pregnancy. Here we present a microphysiological system to experimentally simulate and investigate human placental exposure to environmental metals in maternal circulation. An in vitro analogue of the maternal-fetal interface and its dynamic tissue-specific environment are constructed using primary human placental cells grown in a microfluidic device. Using cadmium as a representative toxicant, we show how this system can be used to model the human placental barrier subjected to the flow of cadmium-containing maternal blood and its adverse biological responses and impaired tissue function. Through mechanistic investigation of maternal-to-fetal cadmium transport in this model, we reveal that efflux membrane transporters expressed by trophoblasts may play a protective role against cadmium-induced toxicity. Finally, we demonstrate the potential use of the microphysiological system for discovering metabolic biomarkers for detection and monitoring of cadmium-induced placental dysfunction.
SN  - 2157-846X
ER  -