Extracellular Vesicles in Pregnancy: From Maternal–Fetal Communication to Environmental Perturbation
- 1Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council of Italy, 90146 Palermo, Italy
- 2Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
- 3Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS Pavia, Piazza Vittoria 15, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Abstract
Pregnancy is a uniquely sensitive moment during which environmental exposures may have profound and long-lasting consequences for maternal health, placental function, and fetal development. A successful pregnancy depends on continuous molecular communication among maternal, placental, and fetal compartments. The disruption of these processes by environmental stressors may increase the risk of pregnancy complications, impaired neurodevelopment, and susceptibility to non-communicable diseases later in life. Pregnant women are exposed to dynamic mixtures of chemical, physical, occupational, behavioral, and social stressors from the air, diet, drinking water, consumer products, and residential or workplace environments. The pregnancy exposome framework integrates these external exposures with internal biological responses, including oxidative stress, inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, epigenetic alterations, and changes in circulating biomolecules. However, the mechanisms through which exposure-related signals are transmitted across the maternal–placental–fetal unit remain incompletely understood. Extracellular vesicles may be a key component of this communication network as they transfer protected molecular cargoes, including proteins, lipids, metabolites, and regulatory nucleic acids. Understanding how environmental exposures modify extracellular vesicle biogenesis, composition, and function may reveal mechanisms linking the pregnancy exposome to placental dysfunction, adverse pregnancy outcomes, fetal programming, and early biomarkers of biological effects. This review examines the role of extracellular vesicles in physiological maternal–fetal communication and critically summarizes current human and experimental evidence on how environmental exposures may affect EV characteristics and function during pregnancy, with particular attention to their potential involvement in placental dysfunction and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
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BibTeX
@article{affranchi2026extracellular,
title = {{Extracellular Vesicles in Pregnancy: From Maternal–Fetal Communication to Environmental Perturbation}},
author = {Federica Affranchi and Noemi Aloi and Ilaria Cosentini and Giulia Smeraldi and Paolo Colombo and Gaspare Drago and Silvia Ruggieri and Valeria Longo},
journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3390/ijms272110022},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/21/10022},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Extracellular Vesicles in Pregnancy: From Maternal–Fetal Communication to Environmental Perturbation
AU - Federica Affranchi
AU - Noemi Aloi
AU - Ilaria Cosentini
AU - Giulia Smeraldi
AU - Paolo Colombo
AU - Gaspare Drago
AU - Silvia Ruggieri
AU - Valeria Longo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/09
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
DO - 10.3390/ijms272110022
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/21/10022
AB - Pregnancy is a uniquely sensitive moment during which environmental exposures may have profound and long-lasting consequences for maternal health, placental function, and fetal development. A successful pregnancy depends on continuous molecular communication among maternal, placental, and fetal compartments. The disruption of these processes by environmental stressors may increase the risk of pregnancy complications, impaired neurodevelopment, and susceptibility to non-communicable diseases later in life. Pregnant women are exposed to dynamic mixtures of chemical, physical, occupational, behavioral, and social stressors from the air, diet, drinking water, consumer products, and residential or workplace environments. The pregnancy exposome framework integrates these external exposures with internal biological responses, including oxidative stress, inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, epigenetic alterations, and changes in circulating biomolecules. However, the mechanisms through which exposure-related signals are transmitted across the maternal–placental–fetal unit remain incompletely understood. Extracellular vesicles may be a key component of this communication network as they transfer protected molecular cargoes, including proteins, lipids, metabolites, and regulatory nucleic acids. Understanding how environmental exposures modify extracellular vesicle biogenesis, composition, and function may reveal mechanisms linking the pregnancy exposome to placental dysfunction, adverse pregnancy outcomes, fetal programming, and early biomarkers of biological effects. This review examines the role of extracellular vesicles in physiological maternal–fetal communication and critically summarizes current human and experimental evidence on how environmental exposures may affect EV characteristics and function during pregnancy, with particular attention to their potential involvement in placental dysfunction and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
SN - 1422-0067
ER -