Division of Spine Surgery, Department of Orthopaedics, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Forensic Multi-Omics for Precision Identiffcation, School of Forensic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Nov 15;267:115637. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115637. Epub 2023 Nov 7.
A variety of microplastics (MPs) have become ubiquitous environmental pollutants, leading to inevitable human contact and health impacts. Most previous research has explored the toxic effects of a single type of MPs exposure. However, the effects of co-exposure to both common types of MPs, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS) MPs on mammals have not been explored. Here, adult mice were exposed to PS-PVC (1.0 µm PS and 2.0 µm PVC both at the concentration of 0.5 mg/day) for 60 days. The results showed that PS-PVC co-exposure-induced hepatotoxicity was evidenced by liver histopathological changes, the release of inflammatory cytokines, and the activation of oxidative stress. Moreover, the intestinal mucosal barrier was damaged after PS-PVC treatment. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequencing reported there was a marked shift in the gut microbial structure accompanied by decreased relative abundances of probiotics, such as Clostridium, Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006, Desulfovibrio, Clostridiales_unclassified and Ruminococcaceae_unclassified and increased the conditional pathogen abundances, such as Erysipelatoclostridium. Furthermore, the triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TCH) expression levels in the serum and liver were increased after PS-PVC co-exposure. Serum metabolomics analysis showed that there were 717 differential expression metabolites found in the positive- and negative-ion modes, including 476 up-regulated and 241 down-regulated, mainly enriched in butyrate metabolism, thiamine metabolism, and phenylacetate metabolism. In addition, remarked changes in the gut microbiota and serum metabolic profiles were closely related to hepatic and intestinal injuries after PS-PVC co-exposure. These results have provided new insights into the toxic effects of PS and PVC MPs co-exposure through the gut-liver axis and the health risks of PS and PVC MPs should be paid more attention to humans.
各种微塑料（MPs）已成为无处不在的环境污染物，导致不可避免的人类接触和健康影响。大多数先前的研究都探讨了单一类型的 MPs 暴露的毒性作用。然而，共同暴露于两种常见类型的 MPs（聚氯乙烯（PVC）和聚苯乙烯（PS） MPs）对哺乳动物的影响尚未得到探索。在这里，成年小鼠暴露于 PS-PVC（1.0 µm PS 和 2.0 µm PVC 浓度均为 0.5 mg/天）60 天。结果表明，PS-PVC 共同暴露诱导的肝毒性表现为肝组织病理学变化、炎症细胞因子的释放和氧化应激的激活。此外，PS-PVC 处理后肠道黏膜屏障受损。16S rRNA 基因测序结果表明，肠道微生物结构发生显著变化，益生菌相对丰度降低，如 Clostridium、Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006、Desulfovibrio、Clostridiales_unclassified 和 Ruminococcaceae_unclassified，条件致病菌丰度增加，如 Erysipelatoclostridium。此外，PS-PVC 共同暴露后血清和肝脏中的甘油三酯（TG）和总胆固醇（TCH）表达水平升高。血清代谢组学分析显示，在正、负离子模式下发现了 717 个差异表达代谢物，包括 476 个上调和 241 个下调，主要富集在丁酸盐代谢、硫胺素代谢和苯乙酸代谢中。此外，PS-PVC 共同暴露后肠道微生物群和血清代谢谱的显著变化与肝和肠损伤密切相关。这些结果通过肠-肝轴为 PS 和 PVC MPs 共同暴露的毒性作用提供了新的见解，应该更加关注 PS 和 PVC MPs 对人类的健康风险。
