Objective: To study the effects of PM2.5 on reproductive endocrine hormone levels and pregnancy outcomes in female rats.
Methods: Thirty female mice were randomly divided into control group (normal saline), low-dose PM2.5 group (1.5 mg/kg) and high-dose PM2.5 group (37.5 mg/kg). After exposure to PM2.5 for 10 days, the pre-pregnancy blood was collected and then caged. On the 19th day of pregnancy, the rats were sacrificed, the serum was collected and separated, and ELISA kits were used to determine serum estradiol (E2) and progesterone (progesterone) , PROG), chorionic gonadotropin (CG), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) hormone levels; the fetal mice were observed by cesarean section.
RESULTS: The live birth rates of the control group, low-dose group and high-dose group were 90.77%, 59.49% and 60.27%, respectively. Compared with the control group, the live birth rate of fetuses in both low-dose and high-dose groups was significantly lower (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, PM2.5 could significantly reduce the levels of E2, PROG, CG and LH in the blood of female mice in each exposure group before and after pregnancy (P<0.05). compared="" with="" the="" control="" fsh="" in="" pre-pregnancy="" blood="" of="" female="" mice="" low-dose="" pm2.5="" exposure="" group="" did="" not="" change="" significantly="" p="">0.05), but the FSH in the high-dose group was significantly decreased (P<0.05).
Conclusion: PM2.5 may affect pregnancy outcome by affecting the secretion level of endocrine hormones.