Jo JiHun, Acharya Manju, K C Pramod Bahadur, Maharjan Anju, Lee DaEun, Gautam Ravi, Kwon Jung-Taek, Kim KilSoo, Kim ChangYul, Heo Yong, Kim HyoungAh
Department of Occupational Health, College of Bio and Medical Sciences, Daegu Catholic University, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea.
Department of Toxicology, Graduate School of Daegu Catholic University, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea.
Toxicol Res. 2023 Apr 11;39(3):419-427. doi: 10.1007/s43188-023-00172-6. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Microplastics (MPs) have been recently recognized as posing a risk to human health. The adverse health effects of MP exposure have been recently reported, especially via the oral exposure route. The present study investigated whether subacute (4 week) exposure to polyethylene (PE) or polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) MPs via gastric intubation caused immunotoxicity. Two different sizes of PE MPs (6.2 or 27.2 μm) and PTFE MPs (6.0 or 30.5 μm) were administered to 6-week-old mice of both sexes at 0 (corn oil vehicle control), 500, 1000, or 2000 mg/kg/day (n = 4/group). No significant differences were observed between groups in the major thymic or splenic immune cell populations, including thymic CD4, CD8, CD4/CD8 T lymphocytes, and splenic helper T cells, cytotoxic T cells, and B cells. The ratio of interferon-gamma (IFNγ) to interleukin-4 (IL-4) in culture supernatants from polyclonally activated splenic mononuclear cells ex vivo (48 h) was dose-dependently decreased in female mice that received small- and large-size PTFE MPs. The IFNγ/IL-4 ratio was also decreased in the female mice dosed with large-size PE MPs. The serum IgG2a/IgG1 ratio was dose-dependently increased in male and female animals dosed with small-size PE MPs, in female animals dosed with large-size PTFE MPs, and in male animals dosed with small-size PTFE MPs. The present study implies that immune functions could be affected in animals exposed to MPs via gastric intubation. These effects are dependent on MP size, MP dose, MP polymer type, and mouse sex. Further investigations with longer exposure periods could be necessary to more clearly define the immunotoxic effects of MPs.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43188-023-00172-6.
微塑料（MPs）最近被认为对人类健康构成风险。最近有报道称MP暴露对健康有不良影响，尤其是通过口服暴露途径。本研究调查了通过胃插管亚急性（4周）暴露于聚乙烯（PE）或聚四氟乙烯（PTFE）微塑料是否会引起免疫毒性。将两种不同尺寸的PE微塑料（6.2或27.2μm）和PTFE微塑料（6.0或30.5μm）以0（玉米油载体对照）、500、1000或2000mg/kg/天的剂量给予6周龄的雌雄小鼠（每组n = 4）。在主要的胸腺或脾脏免疫细胞群体中，包括胸腺CD4、CD8、CD4/CD8 T淋巴细胞以及脾脏辅助性T细胞、细胞毒性T细胞和B细胞，各实验组之间未观察到显著差异。在体外（48小时）多克隆激活的脾脏单核细胞培养上清液中，接受小尺寸和大尺寸PTFE微塑料的雌性小鼠中，干扰素-γ（IFNγ）与白细胞介素-4（IL-4）的比例呈剂量依赖性降低。给予大尺寸PE微塑料的雌性小鼠中，IFNγ/IL-4比例也降低。给予小尺寸PE微塑料的雄性和雌性动物、给予大尺寸PTFE微塑料的雌性动物以及给予小尺寸PTFE微塑料的雄性动物中，血清IgG2a/IgG1比例呈剂量依赖性增加。本研究表明，通过胃插管暴露于微塑料的动物的免疫功能可能会受到影响。这些影响取决于微塑料的尺寸、剂量、聚合物类型和小鼠性别。可能需要进行更长暴露期的进一步研究，以更清楚地确定微塑料的免疫毒性作用。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s43188-023-00172-6获取的补充材料。
