Peat smoke exposure as a risk factor for deterioration of postnatal development

Introduction. In connection with the growing number and scale of wildfires, the problem of the toxic effect of biomass combustion products is relevant both in Russia and abroad. Data on the consequences of wildfire smoke exposure at various stages of ontogenesis are extremely scarce. The presence in smoke substances that, in addition to general toxic effects, have reprotoxic, gonadotoxic, and genotoxic effects, determines the need to study its effect on the reproductive potential and health of offspring.

The purpose of the study was to assess the postnatal development of the offspring, the parent generation of which was exposed to peat smoke during puberty.

Materials and methods. Exposure to peat smoke was carried out once for four hours on the 35^th day of life for female and on the 45^th day for male rats. The average concentrations of carbon monoxide in the exposure chambers were 29.3±11.1 mg/m³, and ultrafine PM_2.5 particles — 0.39±0.61 mg/m³. At puberty, peat smoke exposed rats were mated with intact partners. In rat pups from the offspring there was studied the trend in body weight gain, physical development, and sensory-motor reflexes were assessed.

Results. Acute exposure to peat smoke during puberty in white rats adversely affects the development of their offspring. A significant lag in the physical and sensory-motor development of rat pups from the offspring of animals exposed to smoke was revealed in comparison with rat pups from the control group.

Limitations. The study was limited to the study of postnatal development of offspring obtained from rats exposed to peat smoke during puberty.

Conclusion. Exposure to peat smoke during puberty leads to a delay in the physical and somatosensory development of the offspring during early postnatal ontogenesis.

Compliance with ethical standards. The conclusion of the local ethics committee (No. 32 dated January 10, 2023) was received for conducting experimental studies. All manipulations with animals were carried out in accordance with the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Experimental or Other Scientific Purposes (ETS 123).

Contribution:
Pankova A.A. — experiment, writing, statistical processing, conducting a survey, structuring the article;
Vokina V.A. — concept and design of the study, literature search, experiment, statistical processing, writing text, editing;
Sosedova L.M. — concept and design of the study, writing text, editing;
Rukavishnikov V.S. — leadership, analytical work.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgment. The work was carried out according to the research plan within the framework of the state assignment, as well as within the framework of grant No. 075-15-2020-787 of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for the implementation of a major scientific project in priority areas of scientific and technological development.

Received: June 5, 2024 / Accepted: July 31, 2024 / Published: October 16, 2024

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