Uptake of Cerium Dioxide Nanoparticles and Impact on Viability, Differentiation and Functions of Primary Trophoblast Cells from Human Placenta

The human placenta is at the interface between maternal and fetal circulations, and is crucial for fetal development. The nanoparticles of cerium dioxide (CeO(2) NPs) from air pollution are an unevaluated risk during pregnancy. Assessing the consequences of placenta exposure to CeO(2) NPs could contribute to a better understanding of NPs’ effect on the development and functions of the placenta and pregnancy outcome. We used primary villous cytotrophoblasts purified from term human placenta, with a wide range of CeO(2) NPs concentrations (0.1–101 μg/cm(2)) and exposure time (24–72 h), to assess trophoblast uptake, toxicity and impact on trophoblast differentiation and endocrine function. We have shown the capacity of both cytotrophoblasts and syncytiotrophoblasts to internalize CeO(2) NPs. CeO(2) NPs affected trophoblast metabolic activity in a dose and time dependency, induced caspase activation and a LDH release in the absence of oxidative stress. CeO(2) NPs decreased the fusion capacity of cytotrophoblasts to form a syncytiotrophoblast and disturbed secretion of the pregnancy hormones hCG, hPL, PlGF, P4 and E2, in accordance with NPs concentration. This is the first study on the impact of CeO(2) NPs using human primary trophoblasts that decrypts their toxicity and impact on placental formation and functions.