TABLE 1.

Adverse effects and toxicological implications of various types of nanoparticles in the female reproductive system and stages of fetal development.

Type of NPs	Size/size range	Dose/concentration	Animals/model	Toxicological outcomes	Reference
Polyvinyl pyrrolidone–coated silver NPs	20–50 nm	0.427, 0.407, and 0.013 mg/kg	Rats	NPs are causing impairing of cognition in the offspring.	Wu et al. (2015)
Gold NPs	10	2.85 × 1010 NPs/ml	In vitro	NPs are found to be affecting steroidogenetic capacities by the granulosa cells in culture media after trespassing through the granulosa cell membranes.	Lyngdoh et al. (2020)
Silver nanoparticles	14 nm	50 nM	Mice	Inner cellular mass was subjected to the induced apoptosis, and embryonic growth shows trophectoderm.	Li et al. (2010)
Gold NPs	13	0.9–7.2 μg/g body weight	Mice	NPs get accumulated in the placental and fetal tissues.	Yang et al. (2018); Bongaerts et al. (2020)
Silver nanoparticles	35 nm	1.69–2.21 mg/kg	Rats	NPs show appearance in the fetal growth.	Melnik et al. (2013)
Gold NPs	20	1 nm for 48 or 72 h	In-vitro	NPs cause the alteration of almost 19 genetic makeups in the fibroblast cells of the lungs of the fetus.	Gedda et al. (2019)
Silver nanoparticles	8 nm	250 mg/kg	Rats	Pups’ tissues exhibit NP accumulation.	Lee et al. (2012)
Gold NPs	20 & 50	0.01%	Mice	NPs can travel through the placenta through endocytic vesicular transportation	Rattanapinyopituk et al. (2014)
Silver nanoparticles	–	0.001–100 μg/ml	In vitro	NPs show interference in the reproductive tissue function and alter levels of E2 and P4.	Scsukova et al. (2013)
Gold NPs	3, 13 & 32 nm	0.9 μg/g body weight	Mice	NPs are found to be enhancing the inflammation of uterine tissues and get accumulated in fetal tissues	Tian et al. (2013)
Silver nanoparticles	–	0.09–1.0 mg/ml	In vitro	Intervention by NPs in proliferative pathways and cause apoptotic implications in granulosa cell lines of pork ovaries	Kolesarova et al. (2011)
Gold, silver, and gold-silver alloy	6 and 20 nm	0.66 g/L for alloy, 2.5 g/L for silver, and 0.5 g/L for gold	Pigs’ in vitro ovaries	NPs are found to be inhibiting the maturation of oocytes, and toxic impacts are increased by the NPs of alloys.	Tiedemann et al. (2014)
Silver nanoparticles	35 nm	1.69–2.21 mg/kg	Mice	NPs travel in the mother’s breast milk and get accumulated in the developing embryos	Melnik et al. (2013)
Titanium dioxide NPs	5.5 nm	10 mg/kg	Mice	Initiation of premature oogenesis and causing the apoptotic cell death in ovarian cells, enhancing the atresia in primary and secondary follicular developmental stages	Zhao et al. (2013)
Silver nanoparticles	55 nm	0.2–20 mg/kg	Rats	Nanoparticle demons	Charehsaz et al. (2016)
Titanium dioxide NPs	25 nm	--	In vitro	Deformation of follicular growth and inhibition of the maturation of oocytes	Hou and Zhu, (2017)
Silver nitrate NPs	55 nm	20 mg/kg	Rats	NPs damage neurons in the hippocampal regions of the brains of both adults and offspring.	Charehsaz et al. (2016)
Titanium dioxide NPs	13–27 nm	1–5 μg/ml	Chinese hamster ovary cell line	Genotoxic and cytotoxic outcomes	Kazimirova et al. (2020)
Cadmium oxide NPs	11–15 nm	100 or 230 µg	Mice	Placental toxic reactions	Blum et al. (2012)
Silver or silver nitrate NPs	10 nm	66 mg/kg	Mice	NPs caused hampering of the growth of embryos	Austin et al. (2016)
Titanium dioxide NPs	--	2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg body weight	Mice	Alteration in the expressions of relevant ovarian genes in a concentration-dependent manner	Zhao et al. (2013)
Titanium dioxide NPs	--	0.001–100 μg/ml	In vitro	Alteration in the levels of P4 and E2 and interference in reproductive system functions	Karimipour et al. (2018)
Titanium dioxide NPs	50 nm	1 μg/ml	Mice	NPs crossed the placental barrier and hampered the central nervous system development in the fetus	Shimizu et al. (2009); Umezawa et al. (2012)
Titanium dioxide NPs	10 nm	100 mg/kg body weight	Rats	NPs exerted neurotoxicity in the brains of neonates and adults	Mohammadipour et al. (2014), Mohammadipour et al. (2016); Ebrahimzadeh Bideskan et al. (2017)
Titanium dioxide NPs	∼100 nm	100 mg/kg body weight	Rats	Induction of apoptotic phenomena and reduction in neurogenesis	Mohammadipour et al. (2014), Mohammadipour et al. (2016); Ebrahimzadeh Bideskan et al. (2017)
Titanium dioxide NPs	35 nm	0.8 mg per animal	Mice	Accumulation of NPs in the brain, placental trophoblasts, and liver of the fetus	Yamashita et al. (2011)
Titanium dioxide NPs	4 nm	88–108 m2/gm	Ex-vivo	Placental toxicities	Blum et al. (2012)
Aluminum oxide NPs	9–47 nm	1–25 μg/ml	Chinese hamster ovary cell line	Cytotoxic and genotoxic effects	Di Virgilio et al. (2010)
Cerium oxide NPs	35 nm	100 µm	Mice	Adverse reactions on oocytes	Courbiere et al. (2013)
Cerium oxide NPs	35 nm	10 & 100 µm	Mice	NPs got aggregated and accumulated in follicular cells by the endocytotic mechanism and showed distribution in zona pellucida of oocyte cells	Preaubert et al. (2016)
Zinc oxide NPs	∼100 nm	500 mg/kg	Rats	Reduction in the numbers of live-born pups and enhancement of fetal repsorptive phenomena	Jo et al. (2013)
Zinc oxide NPs	∼20 nm	50 or 100 mg/kg	Hens	Inflammatory responses, ROS production, and disturbances in the signaling pathway	Liu et al. (2016)
Polyethylene imine and PAA-coated iron oxide NPs	28–30 nm	50 mg/kg body weight	Mice	NPs lead to the death of the fetus.	Di Bona et al. (2014)
Alpha-iron oxide NPs	50 & 70 nm	100 μg/ml	In vitro	Oxidative stress and cellular death	Faust et al. (2014)
Cadmium oxide NPs	11–15 nm	100 and 230 mg/m3	Mice	NPs show accumulation in placental tissues and an increase in the weight of the fetus.	Liu et al. (2017)
Silver NPs	5–70 nm	0.2 & 2 mg/kg	Mice	NPs caused neurobehavioral impairments in the offspring.	Ghaderi et al. (2015)
Copper oxide NPs	4 nm	40–44 m2/g	Ex vivo	Reduced cell viabilities and reduction in levels of human chorionic gonadotropins	Blum et al. (2012)