Grup de Mutagènesi, Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici Cn, Campus de Bellaterra, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), Spain.
Biomolecules. 2021 Oct 1;11(10):1442. doi: 10.3390/biom11101442.
The increasing presence of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPLs) in the environment, and their consequent accumulation in trophic niches, could pose a potential health threat to humans, especially due to their chronic ingestion. In vitro studies using human cells are considered pertinent approaches to determine potential health risks to humans. Nevertheless, most of such studies have been conducted using short exposure times and high concentrations. Since human exposure to MNPLs is supposed to be chronic, there is a lack of information regarding the potential in vitro MNPLs effects under chronic exposure conditions. To this aim, we assessed the accumulation and potential outcomes of polystyrene nanoparticles (PSNPs), as a model of MNPLs, in undifferentiated Caco-2 cells (as models of cell target in ingestion exposures) under a relevant long-term exposure scenario, consisting of eight weeks of exposure to sub-toxic PSNPs concentrations. In such exposure conditions, culture-media was changed every 2-3 days to maintain constant exposure. The different analyzed endpoints were cytotoxicity, dysregulation of stress-related genes, genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage, and intracellular ROS levels. These are endpoints that showed to be sensitive enough in different studies. The obtained results attest that PSNPs accumulate in the cells through time, inducing changes at the ultrastructural and molecular levels. Nevertheless, minor changes in the different evaluated genotoxicity-related biomarkers were observed. This would indicate that no DNA damage or oxidative stress is observed in the human intestinal Caco-2 cells after long-term exposure to PSNPs. This is the first study dealing with the long-term effects of PSNPs on human cultured cells.
环境中微塑料和纳米塑料(MNPLs)的存在日益增加,并且它们在营养层中的积累,可能对人类健康构成潜在威胁,尤其是由于人类的慢性摄入。使用人类细胞进行的体外研究被认为是确定对人类潜在健康风险的相关方法。然而,大多数此类研究都是在短时间暴露和高浓度的情况下进行的。由于人类对 MNPLs 的暴露被认为是慢性的,因此缺乏关于慢性暴露条件下 MNPLs 潜在体外影响的信息。为此,我们评估了聚苯乙烯纳米颗粒(PSNPs)作为 MNPLs 的模型,在长期暴露相关条件下,即在亚毒性 PSNPs 浓度下暴露八周,在未分化的 Caco-2 细胞(作为摄入暴露中细胞靶标的模型)中的积累和潜在结果。在这种暴露条件下,每隔 2-3 天更换一次培养基,以保持恒定暴露。分析的不同终点包括细胞毒性、应激相关基因失调、遗传毒性、氧化 DNA 损伤和细胞内 ROS 水平。这些终点在不同研究中已经证明足够敏感。获得的结果证明 PSNPs 随着时间的推移在细胞中积累,在超微结构和分子水平上引起变化。然而,在不同评估的遗传毒性相关生物标志物中观察到的变化很小。这表明在人类肠道 Caco-2 细胞长期暴露于 PSNPs 后,不会观察到 DNA 损伤或氧化应激。这是第一项关于 PSNPs 对人类培养细胞长期影响的研究。