Wildfire smoke exposure in early pregnancy affects infant monkey
behavior

Date:
April 1, 2022
Source:
University of California - Davis
Summary:
Infant monkeys conceived while their mothers were naturally
exposed to wildfire smoke show behavioral changes compared to
animals conceived days later, according to a new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Infant monkeys conceived while their mothers were naturally exposed to
wildfire smoke show behavioral changes compared to animals conceived
days later, according to a new study from researchers at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California,
Davis. The work is published April 1 in Nature Communications.


==========================================================================
The findings show the importance of timing in effects of smoke exposure
on pregnancy and suggest a teratogenic, or developmental mechanism, said
senior author Bill Lasley, professor emeritus of population health and reproduction at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Center
for Health and Environment.

"I think this will have an effect on future studies of exposures in
pregnancy, because we'll know when to look," Lasley said. Existing
studies of environmental exposures during pregnancy in humans are mostly retrospective, and women may not even realize they are pregnant until
weeks into the first trimester, he said.

The Camp Fire, which began Nov. 8, 2018, provided a natural experiment
in smoke exposure. It blanketed the Davis area, some 100 miles away,
with smoke at the peak of breeding season for rhesus macaques housed in
outdoor corrals at the California National Primate Research Center.

The 89 animals conceived around that time were born about six months
later.

They divide between 52 animals conceived on or before Nov. 22, 2018 which
were considered as "exposed" to wildfire smoke in their first trimester,
and 37 conceived later which were not exposed.

John Capitanio, professor of psychology at UC Davis and a core scientist
at the CNPRC, has been conducting standardized assessments on animals
born at the Center for two decades. At about 3-4 months old, the
young monkeys are assessed on a variety of cognitive and behavioral
tests. While the number of animals conceived during the Camp Fire that
were assessed was fairly small, they could be compared not only to each
other (exposed vs. not exposed), but also to the historical data from
hundreds of animals.



==========================================================================
On assessment, the smoke-exposed infants showed increases in a marker
of inflammation, a reduced cortisol response to stress, memory deficits
and a more passive temperament than other animals, Capitanio said.

"It's a mild effect across a variety of domains of psychological
function," Capitanio said. The effects are consistent with those found
in studies of prenatal exposure to air pollution, he said. Comparison
between the groups and with animals born in other years shows that the
results are not due to the timing of conception (earlier versus later
in the breeding season).

Effect on fetal development The findings suggest that some component of wildfire smoke can act as a teratogen, affecting fetal development, Lasley said. That component could be airborne hydrocarbons such as phthalates,
which were found in the smoke plume from the Camp Fire.

Unlike other mammals, the placenta of primates such as humans and rhesus macaques produces hormones that support brain development through the
adrenal system, he said.

"Since fetal adrenal glands are the source of cortisol and other steroids
for neurologic development, which determines behaviors, a scenario of
a placenta- adrenal-brain axis could be the causal pathway," Lasley said.

Lasley is beginning a prospective study with women with implanted embryos
as a result of in vitro fertilization, as the time of conception is
exactly known if the women are incidentally exposed to wildfire smoke
or other pollutants.

A previously published study on the same group of animals by Bryn Wilson,
an OB/GYN resident at UC Davis Health in collaboration with Lasley and Professor Kent Pinkerton, UC Davis Center for Health and Environment,
found a slight, but not statistically significant, decrease in the rate
of live births in the affected cohort.

Additional authors on the paper are Laura Del Rosso, California National Primate Research Center and Nancy Gee, UC Davis Center for Health and Environment. The work was supported by grants from the NIH.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Davis. Original written by Andy Fell. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. John P. Capitanio, Laura A. Del Rosso, Nancy Gee, Bill
L. Lasley. Adverse
biobehavioral effects in infants resulting from pregnant rhesus
macaques' exposure to wildfire smoke. Nature Communications, 2022;
13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29436-9 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220401094837.htm

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