Fig. 1
From: Impact on murine neurodevelopment of early-life exposure to airborne ultrafine carbon nanoparticles
Experimental timeline. The numbers represent the days, and the day of mating is designated GD 0. On GD 8, 9, 16, and 17, prenatal exposure to either HEPA-filtered air (0 μg/m3) or aerosolised UFPC (450 μg/m3) was delivered through maternal whole-body inhalation. Birth was expected at GD 20 and designated PND 0. An additional postnatal exposure was delivered to the offspring at PND 4–7 and 10–13, again to either HEPA-filtered air (0 μg/m3) or aerosolised UFPC (450 μg/m3), resulting in 4 different offspring conditions: sham, prenatal, postnatal, and pre- and postnatally exposed mice. Ten offspring with an equal male-female ratio were subjected to behavioural tests. Anthropometric measurements of the mouse pups were performed between PND 2 and 22. A modified Fox test battery was performed, including righting, negative geotaxis, and cliff aversion on PND 10 and 16. Olfactory function was determined using the homing test at PND 19. The open field test was performed at PND 21. Abbreviations: GD = gestational day; PND = postnatal day; UFPC = clean ultrafine particles