skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Hashemi, Nicole N."

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. Striving for sustainable drug discovery, we have presented a proof-of-concept for studying the effects of pharmaceutical agents transported across the placental barrier on neural cells. The potential effects of pharmaceutical agents on fetus have made concerns about their use and require more studies to address these concerns. A placenta-on-a-chip model was fabricated and tested for transport of naltrexone (NTX) and its primary metabolite 6[Formula: see text]-naltrexol. The NTX/6[Formula: see text]-naltrexol transported from the maternal channel to the fetal channel was then collected from the fetal channel. To evaluate the behavior of neural cells following exposure to NTX and 6[Formula: see text]-naltrexol, perfusate from the fetal channel was directed toward the cultured N27 neural cells. Neural cells exposed to the transported NTX/6[Formula: see text]-naltrexol were then evaluated for gene expression and cell viability. Results showed significantly higher fold changes in IL-6 and TNF-[Formula: see text] expression when exposed to NTX/6[Formula: see text]-naltrexol. However, a lower fold change in IL-1[Formula: see text] expression was observed, while it remained the same in sphingosine kinase (sphk)1. Also, cell viability with NTX/6[Formula: see text]-naltrexol exposure was determined to be significantly lower ([Formula: see text]). This study has the potential to reveal the impact of pharmaceutical agents on the developing neural system of fetuses and their premature brains. 
    more » « less