Background: Using engineered nanomaterial-based toners, laser printers generate aerosols with alarming levels of nanoparticles that bear high bioactivity and potential health risks. Yet, the cardiac impacts of printer-emitted particles (PEPs) are unknown. Inhalation of particulate matter (PM) promotes cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and ultra-fine particulates (< 0.1 μm aerodynamic diameter) may bear toxicity unique from larger particles. Toxicological studies suggest that PM impairs left ventricular (LV) performance; however, such investigations have heretofore required animal restraint, anesthesia, or ex vivo preparations that can confound physiologic endpoints and/or prohibit LV mechanical assessments during exposure. To assess the acute and chronic effects of PEPs on cardiac physiology, male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to PEPs (21 days, 5 h/day) while monitoring LV pressure (LVP) and electrocardiogram (ECG) via conscious telemetry, analyzing LVP and heart rate variability (HRV) in four-day increments from exposure days 1 to 21, as well as ECG and baroreflex sensitivity. At 2, 35, and 70 days after PEPs exposure ceased, rats received stress tests. Results: On day 21 of exposure, PEPs significantly (P < 0.05 vs. Air) increased LV end systolic pressure (LVESP, + 18 mmHg) and rate-pressure-product (+ 19%), and decreased HRV indicating sympathetic dominance (root means squared of successive differences [RMSSD], − 21%). Overall, PEPs decreased LV ejection time (− 9%), relaxation time (− 3%), tau (− 5%), RMSSD (− 21%), and P-wave duration (− 9%). PEPs increased QTc interval (+ 5%) and low:high frequency HRV (+ 24%; all P < 0.05 vs. Air), while tending to decrease baroreflex sensitivity and contractility index (− 15% and − 3%, P < 0.10 vs. Air). Relative to Air, at both 2 and 35 days after PEPs, ventricular arrhythmias increased, and at 70 days post-exposure LVESP increased. PEPs impaired ventricular repolarization at 2 and 35 days postexposure, but only during stress tests. At 72 days post-exposure, PEPs increased urinary dopamine 5-fold and protein expression of ventricular repolarizing channels, K v 1.5, K v 4.2, and K v 7.1, by 50%. Conclusions: Our findings suggest exposure to PEPs increases cardiovascular risk by augmenting sympathetic influence, impairing ventricular performance and repolarization, and inducing hypertension and arrhythmia. PEPs may present significant health risks through adverse cardiovascular effects, especially in occupational settings, among susceptible individuals, and with long-term exposure.

Visual pathways of the brain are organized into parallel channels that code different features of the external environment. In the current study, we investigated the anatomical organization of parallel pathways from the superior colliculus (SC) to the pulvinar nucleus in the mouse. Virus injections placed in the ipsilateral and contralateral SC to induce the expression of different fluorescent proteins define two pulvinar zones. The lateral pulvinar (Pl) receives ipsilateral SC input and the caudal medial pulvinar (Pcm) receives bilateral SC input. To examine the ultrastructure of these projections using transmission electron microscopy, we injected the SC with viruses to induce peroxidase expression within synaptic vesicles or mitochondria. We quantitatively compared the sizes of ipsilateral and contralateral tectopulvinar terminals and their postsynaptic dendrites, as well as the sizes of the overall population of synaptic terminals and their postsynaptic dendrites in the Pl and Pcm. Our ultrastructural analysis revealed that ipsilateral tectopulvinar terminals are significantly larger than contralateral tectopulvinar terminals. In particular, the ipsilateral tectopulvinar projection includes a subset of large terminals (≥ 1 μm2) that envelop dendritic protrusions of postsynaptic dendrites. We also found that both ipsilateral and contralateral tectopulvinar terminals are significantly larger than the overall population of synaptic terminals in both the Pl and Pcm. Thus, the ipsilateral tectopulvinar projection is structurally distinct from the bilateral tectopulvinar pathway, but both tectopulvinar channels may be considered the primary or “driving” input to the Pl and Pcm.

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