Urban air pollution is associated with poor and adverse pregnancy outcomes , including low birth weight, premature birth , and intrauterine growth retardation . Researchers Mariana Matera Veras and Co-workers at the university of Sao Paulo School of Medicine in Brazil Presented evidence that the effect of urban air pollution on pregnancy outcomes could be related to change in the placenta . The experiments employed a novel approach in which pregnancy female mice were exposed before or during gestation to filtered or nonfiltered air in exposure chambers placed in the university garden .
The Garden is situated close to a crossroads with high traffic density with about 83,900 cars , 9,900 diesel vehicles, and 6,300 motorcycles circulating daily on the main street of this intersection . Pregnant mice exposed to urban air pollution either before or during gestation produced fetuses of smaller weights compared to those provided fetuses of smaller weights compared to those provided filtered air .
In addition the effects of urban air pollution were found to be due to adaptive changes in placental development that ultimately reduce placental function and compromise fetal growth . The researchers say the finding s are important with respect to possible transplantation transfer of pollutants from mother to fetus as well as fetal programming origins of health and diseases in adults .
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