Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen 361005, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2022 Jan 5;421:126770. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126770. Epub 2021 Jul 31.
Ubiquitous nanoplastics (NPs) increase exposure risks to humans through the food chain and/or other ways. However, huge knowledge gaps exist regarding the fate and adverse impact of NPs on the human cardiovascular system. Autophagy is an important catabolic pathway that disposes of cytoplasmic waste through the lysosomes. In this study, we pursued to determine the interaction and autophagy effect of polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs) (100 and 500 nm in size) on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The results showed both sizes of PS-NPs interacted with almost all the treated HUVECs in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, and 500 nm PS-NPs were only bound to the surface of cell membranes, whereas 100 nm PS-NPs were taken up by HUVECs and aggregated in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, exposure to 25 μg/mL of 500 nm PS-NPs for 48 h significantly increased lactate dehydrogenase release from HUVECs, while internalized 100 nm PS-NPs not only caused cell membrane damage, but also induced autophagy initiation and autophagosome formation. By a mCherry-GFP-LC3 lentivirus infection assay, we also demonstrated that autophagic flux level was impaired in response to 100 nm PS-NPs. Herein, our results provide new insight into the size-dependent internalization and autophagy response to PS-NPs in HUVECs.
无处不在的纳米塑料（NPs）通过食物链和/或其他途径增加了人类暴露于其中的风险。然而，关于 NPs 对人类心血管系统的命运和不良影响，仍存在巨大的知识空白。自噬是一种重要的分解代谢途径，通过溶酶体处理细胞质废物。在本研究中，我们致力于确定聚苯乙烯纳米塑料（PS-NPs）（大小为 100nm 和 500nm）与人类脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVECs）之间的相互作用和自噬效应。结果表明，两种大小的 PS-NPs 均以时间和浓度依赖的方式与几乎所有处理过的 HUVECs 相互作用，而 500nm PS-NPs 仅与细胞膜表面结合，而 100nm PS-NPs 则被 HUVECs 摄取并在细胞质中聚集。此外，暴露于 25μg/mL 的 500nm PS-NPs 48 小时显著增加了 HUVECs 中乳酸脱氢酶的释放，而内化的 100nm PS-NPs 不仅导致细胞膜损伤，还诱导自噬起始和自噬体形成。通过 mCherry-GFP-LC3 慢病毒感染实验，我们还证明了自噬通量水平因 100nm PS-NPs 的作用而受损。本研究结果为 PS-NPs 在 HUVECs 中的大小依赖性内化和自噬反应提供了新的见解。
