Department of Environmental Science, School of Engineering, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 211198, China.
Department of Environmental Science, School of Engineering, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 211198, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jan 1;750:143085. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143085. Epub 2020 Oct 17.
Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous contaminants in the environment and can be transferred along the food chain, thus causing adverse effects in organisms, even human beings. Therefore, it is of practical importance to identify the environmental risks of MPs, which could lead to a significant impact on public health. In addition to the healthy population, there are large numbers of patients with chronic diseases around the world whose responses to MPs are understudied, representing a significant knowledge gap within the health risk assessment of MPs. In this study, the response sensitivity to MPs of mice with acute colitis was compared with that of healthy mice. The mice were fed water containing polystyrene microplastics (PS MP) at a concentration of 500 μg/L for 28 days. The results showed that PS MP exposure induced inflammatory effects and exerted great disturbance on liver metabolites. Moreover, exposure to PS MP exaggerated dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced acute colitis, as well as lipid disorders, as verified by typical inflammatory factor expression and triglyceride accumulation. The increased intestinal permeability of mice with acute colitis caused by exposure to PS MP may be responsible for the upregulated adverse effects. The results of this study suggest that populations with chronic diseases might be more sensitive to environmental contamination, which should be considered during health risk assessments.
微塑料（MPs）是环境中普遍存在的污染物，它们可以沿着食物链传递，从而对生物体甚至人类造成不良影响。因此，识别 MPs 的环境风险具有实际意义，这可能会对公共健康产生重大影响。除了健康人群外，全世界还有大量的慢性病患者，他们对 MPs 的反应研究不足，这是 MPs 健康风险评估中的一个重大知识空白。在这项研究中，比较了急性结肠炎小鼠和健康小鼠对 MPs 的反应敏感性。将小鼠用浓度为 500μg/L 的聚苯乙烯微塑料（PS MP）水喂养 28 天。结果表明，PS MP 暴露诱导了炎症反应，并对肝脏代谢物产生了很大的干扰。此外，暴露于 PS MP 加剧了葡聚糖硫酸钠（DSS）诱导的急性结肠炎以及脂质紊乱，这通过典型的炎症因子表达和甘油三酯积累得到了验证。PS MP 暴露导致急性结肠炎小鼠的肠道通透性增加，可能是导致不良反应上调的原因。这项研究的结果表明，慢性病患者人群可能对环境污染物更敏感，在进行健康风险评估时应考虑这一点。
