Skip to main content
Fig. 6 | Particle and Fibre Toxicology

Fig. 6

From: Maternal inhalation of carbon black nanoparticles induces neurodevelopmental changes in mouse offspring

Fig. 6

Maternal exposure to Printex 90 carbon nanoparticles affects parvalbumin (PV) expressing interneurons in the cortex. a-f: The density of PV interneurons is changed in the prefrontal (PFC) and motor (MT) cortices of the offspring following maternal exposure to carbon black (only control (CO) and high (HI) exposure groups investigated). a and b show an overview of the PFC and MT regions, respectively, which have been used for quantifications of PV interneurons. In both panels, the dashed line indicates separation of the upper (up; L1-L3) and lower (low; L4–6) cortical layers. c and d show that the density of PV interneurons in the PFC is decreased in both PND 25 and PND 120 offspring, respectively. The upper and lower layers of the PFC are similarly affected. e and f: The density of PV interneurons in the MT is affected by the maternal exposure. At PND 25 (e), there is an increase in the density of PV interneurons in the upper layers and a trend towards decrease (p = 0.078) in the lower layers at the highest maternal exposure level. At PND 120 (f) both upper and lower layers exhibit similar decreases in the density of PV interneurons. In all quantifications, the density of PV interneurons in control mice was normalized to 1 and the exposure group was normalized to the corresponding controls. N is the number of brains analysed. Mean ± SD. g-h: Expression of PV is decreased in the MT of maternally particle exposed offspring. g shows representative images of PV interneurons that were acquired without saturating the fluorescence signal. h shows that in prenatally exposed offspring PV interneurons have a dramatically decreased expression of PV both at PND 25 and PND 120. N denotes the number of cells measured

Back to article page