Sun Rongli, Xu Kai, Yu Linling, Pu Yunqiu, Xiong Fei, He Yuhong, Huang Qingchen, Tang Mingjie, Chen Minjian, Yin Lihong, Zhang Juan, Pu Yuepu
Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu, China.
Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 May 4;218:112296. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112296.
Microplastics (MPs) are currently a global environmental pollutants and health hazards that caused by MPs cannot be ignored. However, studies on MP toxicity in mammals are scare. Here, we investigated the effects of two doses (0.1 mg and 0.5 mg) of 5 µm polystyrene microplastic (PS-MP) particles on the hematological system of mice through traditional toxicology experiments and assessed the related potential biological mechanisms using transcriptome sequencing analysis. The toxicological examinations showed that the 0.5 mg dose significantly decreased white blood cell count, increased Pit count, and inhibited the growth of colony-forming unit CFU-G, CFU-M and CFU-GM. Compared with the control group, there were 41 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the 0.1 mg-treated group and 32 significantly changed genes in 0.5 mg-treated group. Of note, eight genes were found to be significantly altered in both the PS-MP-treated groups. Gene ontology analysis showed that DEGs were mainly involved in T cell homeostasis, response to osmotic stress, extracellular matrix and structure organization, and metabolic process of NADP and nucleotides. In addition, pathway analysis revealed that the Jak/Stat pathway, pentose and glucuronate interconversions, nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, and the pentose phosphate pathway were involved in PS-MP-induced toxicity in mice. These results indicated that PS-MP exposure can cause hematotoxicity to some extent, impact gene expression, and disturb related molecular and biological pathways in mouse bone marrow cells. Our study provides fundamental data on the hematotoxicity of PS-MPs in terrestrial mammals that will help to further assess the corresponding health risks in these mammals.
微塑料（MPs）是当前一种全球环境污染物，其造成的健康危害不容忽视。然而，关于MPs对哺乳动物毒性的研究却很匮乏。在此，我们通过传统毒理学实验研究了两种剂量（0.1毫克和0.5毫克）的5微米聚苯乙烯微塑料（PS-MP）颗粒对小鼠血液系统的影响，并使用转录组测序分析评估了相关潜在生物学机制。毒理学检查表明，0.5毫克剂量显著降低了白细胞计数，增加了血小板计数，并抑制了集落形成单位CFU-G、CFU-M和CFU-GM的生长。与对照组相比，0.1毫克处理组中有41个差异表达基因（DEGs），0.5毫克处理组中有32个显著变化的基因。值得注意的是，在两个PS-MP处理组中均发现有8个基因发生了显著改变。基因本体分析表明，DEGs主要参与T细胞稳态、对渗透压应激的反应、细胞外基质和结构组织以及NADP和核苷酸的代谢过程。此外，通路分析显示，Jak/Stat通路、戊糖与葡糖醛酸相互转化、烟酸和烟酰胺代谢、不饱和脂肪酸生物合成以及磷酸戊糖途径均参与了PS-MP诱导的小鼠毒性作用。这些结果表明，PS-MP暴露在一定程度上可导致血液毒性，影响基因表达，并扰乱小鼠骨髓细胞中的相关分子和生物学通路。我们的研究提供了关于PS-MPs对陆生哺乳动物血液毒性的基础数据，这将有助于进一步评估这些哺乳动物相应的健康风险。
