Fig. 2

Carbon particle load in placental and fetal tissues. (A-G) CPs were present in all screened samples, and (H) a strong positive association in particle load was found between the fetal tissues within the exposed group as visualised by the heatmap and given by the corresponding two-sided Spearman correlation values. The empty and filled symbols are indicative of the individual fetal particle load in the control and exposed group, respectively. (A) The green dots represent the placental particle load, (B) the red squares the heart particle load, (C) the dark blue triangles the kidney particle load, (D) the purple diamonds the liver particle load, (E) the gold hexagons the lung particle load and (F) the light blue triangles the gonad particle load. (G) Differences in particle load between the control and exposed group were analysed by the Mann-Whitney test. (H) In addition, we used the non-parametric Spearman correlation and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test to assess the differences in particle load in the different fetal organs. The average particle load per litter (n = 7 dams per group) was shown and used for all analyses. *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001. Abbreviations – CP: carbon particle; DE: diesel exhaust