School of Environmental and Material Engineering, Yantai University, 30 Qingquan Road, Yantai, 264005, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 17 Chunhui Road, Yantai, 264003, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 17 Chunhui Road, Yantai, 264003, China.
Chemosphere. 2022 May;294:133810. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.133810. Epub 2022 Jan 29.
Microplastics (MPs) have aroused a global health concern and their coexistence with antibiotics is inevitable. However, how MPs would affect the bioaccumulation and risks of antibiotics in humans remains poorly understood. Here a mouse model was used, and through dietary exposure, we observed that while the relative distributions of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) in tissues were relatively stable, MPs significantly reduced the bioaccumulation of SMX in mice tissues (liver, lung, spleen, heart and kidney). Notably, while SMX and MPs showed a differential effect, MPs could exacerbate the effects of SMX on gut microbiota and antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) profile, with the relative abundances of sulfonamide resistance genes and multidrug genes being significantly increased. We further identified that shifts in gut microbiota contributed to the changes in ARG profiles in mice. Combined, our results demonstrate that MPs reduced the bioaccumulation of SMX, but they enhanced its effects on gut microbiota and the antibiotic resistome of mice, indicating they might have high risks to humans.
微塑料（MPs）引起了全球健康关注，它们与抗生素共存是不可避免的。然而， MPs 如何影响抗生素在人体内的生物累积和风险仍知之甚少。在这里，我们使用了一种小鼠模型，通过饮食暴露，我们观察到，虽然磺胺甲恶唑（SMX）在组织中的相对分布相对稳定，但 MPs 显著降低了 SMX 在小鼠组织（肝脏、肺、脾、心脏和肾脏）中的生物累积。值得注意的是，虽然 SMX 和 MPs 表现出不同的作用，但 MPs 可以加剧 SMX 对肠道微生物群和抗生素耐药基因（ARG）谱的影响，磺胺类耐药基因和多药耐药基因的相对丰度显著增加。我们进一步确定，肠道微生物群的转移导致了小鼠中 ARG 谱的变化。综上所述，我们的研究结果表明， MPs 降低了 SMX 的生物累积，但增强了其对肠道微生物群和小鼠抗生素抗性组的影响，这表明它们可能对人类有很高的风险。
