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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2026 Jun 6.
Published in final edited form as: Environ Int. 2026 Apr 20;211:110270. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2026.110270

Figure 3. Effects of PM exposure on the transcriptional regulation of brain development and function.

Figure 3.

(A) PCA of transcriptomes from Veh control (green) and PM-exposed (red) groups. The PCA depicts global gene expression variation across three experimental cohorts. Principal components 1 (PC1) and 2 (PC2), which account for the largest variance in gene expression, are shown. Data for each individual are listed in Supplementary Table 1. Each dot represents one independent offspring. Veh (n = 5, a total of 3 male and 2 female offspring), PM 200 μg/kg (n = 6, a total of 3 male and 3 female offspring).

(B) Volcano plot of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) comparing vehicle control and PM exposure. DEGs with adjusted p-value (P.adj) < 0.05 and log2 fold change (FC) > 1 or < −1 appear in red and blue, respectively. Non-significant DEGs are shown in gray. Counts of upregulated and downregulated genes are provided.

(C) Gene ontology categories of significantly regulated genes in the mouse hippocampus following PM exposure compared with Veh.

(D) Heat maps displaying z-scores of genes enriched in the categories shown in panel C.

(E) Bar graphs illustrating relative log2 fold changes (FC) of key genes in each category.

(F) Normalized read counts for Grin gene expression, which decreased after PM exposure. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test.

(G) Quantitative qRT-PCR analysis of NMDA receptor subunit in the hippocampus. Veh (n = 5, a total of 3 male and 2 female offspring), PM 200 μg/kg (n = 6, a total of 3 male and 3 female offspring). Two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test.