Environmental Toxicant Exposure Paralyzes Human Placental Macrophage Responses to Microbial Threat.

ABSTRACT: Exposure to environmental toxicants (such as dioxins) has been epidemiologically linked to adverse reproductive health outcomes, including placental inflammation and preterm birth. However, the molecular underpinnings that govern these outcomes in gravid reproductive tissues remain largely unclear. Placental macrophages (also known as Hofbauer cells) are crucial innate immune cells that defend the gravid reproductive tract and help promote maternal-fetal tolerance. We hypothesized that exposure to environmental toxicants such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) could alter placental macrophage responses to inflammatory insults such as infection. To test this, placental macrophages were cultured in the presence or absence of TCDD and then infected with the perinatal pathoge

SUBMITTER: Stephens VR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11380109 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature