Fine-particulate matter (PM2.5), a risk factor for rat gestational diabetes with altered blood glucose and pancreatic GLUT2 expression

Abstract

Recent studies have shown an intriguing association between air pollution and diabetic risk. This study was to investigate the impact of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on glucose consequences and pancreas glucose transporter2 (GLUT2) expression in a gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) rat model. GDM rats were exposed to a low PM2.5 dose during pregnancy. After exposure, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and blood routine tests (BRT) were detected. Pancreas underwent pathologic examination. The levels of pancreatic homogenate glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) and GLUT2 were detected. There were lower maternal body weight gain and fetal weight in the PM2.5 group. Exposure to PM2.5 caused increased absorbed blastocyst number, higher blood mono-nuclear cells (PBMC), platelets and IL-6 levels. The postprandial blood glucose (PBG) was elevated at most time points after exposure. The pancreas of PM2.5 exposed rats revealed periductal inflammation under pathological examination. The pancreatic GSH-Px significantly reduced and MDA increased in exposed group. The pancreatic GLUT2 expression was decreased after PM2.5 exposure. Our study provides direct evidence that PM2.5 exposure can result in pancreatic pathological changes and glycemic consequences in GDM rats. The oxidative response and inflammation are involved in PM2.5 increased risk of pancreatic impairment and glycemic consequences.

Chinese abstract

近期有研究表明空气污染与糖尿病有所关联。本研究旨在探讨细颗粒物（PM2.5）对妊娠期糖尿病（GDM）大鼠葡萄糖水平和胰腺葡萄糖转运蛋白2（GLUT2）表达的影响。使GDM大鼠暴露于低浓度PM2.5的空气中, 检测大鼠细胞白介素6（IL-6）水平和血常规值。对胰腺进行病理学检查。检测胰腺谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-Px）、丙二醛（MDA）及GLUT2水平。PM2.5暴露组怀孕母鼠的体重增长程度和新生小鼠的体重均较低；且吸收化囊胚数、周围血单核细胞数（PBMC）、血小数值及IL-6表达水平均高于非暴露组。PM2.5暴露组大鼠的餐后血糖值在所设置的大多数时间点均处于较高水平。病理学检查表明, PM2.5暴露组大鼠的胰腺组织存在导管周围炎症, 胰腺GSH-Px 水平明显降低且MDA水平明显升高, 胰腺组织中GLUT2表达降低。本研究为证实PM2.5可造成妊娠大鼠胰腺组织病理改变和体内葡萄糖水平改变提供了直接证据。暴露于PM2.5继而产生的氧化反应和炎症会增加胰腺损伤及葡萄糖水平改变的风险。

Keywords:

• Blood glucose
• glucose transporter 2
• gestational diabetes mellitus
• particulate matter

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article. This article was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 81501280), the Opening Project of Zhejiang Provincial Top Key Discipline of Clinical (NO. LKFJ041) and the Wenzhou science and technology project (NO. 20140315).