Tolardo Valentina, Magrì Davide, Fumagalli Francesco, Cassano Domenico, Athanassiou Athanassia, Fragouli Despina, Gioria Sabrina
Smart Materials, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego, 30, 16163 Genova, Italy.
Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering, University of Genova, Via All' Opera Pia, 13, 16145 Genova, Italy.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Jun 7;12(12):1947. doi: 10.3390/nano12121947.
Sub-micrometer particles derived from the fragmentation of plastics in the environment can enter the food chain and reach humans, posing significant health risks. To date, there is a lack of adequate toxicological assessment of the effects of nanoplastics (NPs) in mammalian systems, particularly in humans. In this work, we evaluated the potential toxic effects of three different NPs in vitro: two NPs obtained by laser ablation (polycarbonate (PC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET1)) and one (PET2) produced by nanoprecipitation. The physicochemical characterization of the NPs showed a smaller size, a larger size distribution, and a higher degree of surface oxidation for the particles produced by laser ablation. Toxicological evaluation performed on human cell line models (HePG2 and Caco-2) showed a higher toxic effect for the particles synthesized by laser ablation, with PC more toxic than PET. Interestingly, on differentiated Caco-2 cells, a conventional intestinal barrier model, none of the NPs produced toxic effects. This work wants to contribute to increase knowledge on the potential risks posed by NPs.
环境中塑料碎片产生的亚微米级颗粒可进入食物链并到达人体，带来重大健康风险。迄今为止，对于纳米塑料（NPs）在哺乳动物系统尤其是人体中的影响，缺乏充分的毒理学评估。在这项研究中，我们在体外评估了三种不同纳米塑料的潜在毒性作用：两种通过激光烧蚀获得的纳米塑料（聚碳酸酯（PC）和聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（PET1））以及一种通过纳米沉淀法制备的纳米塑料（PET2）。纳米塑料的物理化学表征显示，通过激光烧蚀产生的颗粒尺寸更小、尺寸分布更广且表面氧化程度更高。在人类细胞系模型（HePG2和Caco-2）上进行的毒理学评估表明，通过激光烧蚀合成的颗粒毒性更高，其中PC的毒性高于PET。有趣的是，在分化的Caco-2细胞（一种传统的肠道屏障模型）上，所有纳米塑料均未产生毒性作用。这项研究旨在增进人们对纳米塑料潜在风险的了解。
