Dr. Ulrike Luderer, Ph.D., UCI professor of environmental and occupational health, is corresponding author on the study. Program in Public Health / UCI

Prenatal exposure to a widespread environmental pollutant can deplete egg cells and cause damage to developing ovaries in mouse fetuses, according to a recent study led by Dr. Ulrike Luderer, Ph.D., UCI professor of environmental and occupational health and corresponding author. The team’s findings, published online in Toxicological Sciences, showed that the developing ovaries were equally sensitive to exposure to benzo[a]pyrene, which is found in car exhaust; smoke from wood fires; charred foods; and other sources during both early and late pregnancy “Alarmingly, the eggs that were not destroyed displayed multiple signs of poor quality, including decreased lipid content as well as oxidative stress,” Luderer said. “Future studies should perform detailed metabolic profiling of eggs exposed to gestational BaP.”