ZIK plasmatis, Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP), Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
Department of General Pathology, State University of Londrina, Rodovia Celso Garcia Cid, Londrina 86057-970, Brazil.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024 May 22;16(20):25977-25993. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c00014. Epub 2024 May 14.
Environmental pollution with plastic polymers has become a global problem, leaving no continent and habitat unaffected. Plastic waste is broken down into smaller parts by environmental factors, which generate micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPPs), ultimately ending up in the human food chain. Before entering the human body, MNPPs make their first contact with saliva in the human mouth. However, it is unknown what proteins attach to plastic particles and whether such protein corona formation is affected by the particle's biophysical properties. To this end, we employed polystyrene MNPPs of two different sizes and three different charges and incubated them individually with saliva donated by healthy human volunteers. Particle zeta potential and size analyses were performed using dynamic light scattering complemented by nanoliquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (nLC/HRMS) to qualitatively and quantitatively reveal the protein soft and hard corona for each particle type. Notably, protein profiles and relative quantities were dictated by plastic particle size and charge, which in turn affected their hydrodynamic size, polydispersity, and zeta potential. Strikingly, we provide evidence of the latter to be dynamic processes depending on exposure times. Smaller particles seemed to be more reactive with the surrounding proteins, and cultures of the particles with five different cell lines (HeLa, HEK293, A549, HepG2, and HaCaT) indicated protein corona effects on cellular metabolic activity and genotoxicity. In summary, our data suggest nanoplastic size and surface chemistry dictate the decoration by human saliva proteins, with important implications for MNPP uptake in humans.
环境污染与塑料聚合物已成为全球性问题,没有任何大陆和栖息地不受影响。塑料废物被环境因素分解成更小的部分,这些部分产生微塑料和纳米塑料颗粒(MNPPs),最终进入人类食物链。在进入人体之前,MNPPs 首先与人类口腔中的唾液接触。然而,目前尚不清楚哪些蛋白质会附着在塑料颗粒上,以及这种蛋白质冠的形成是否会受到颗粒的生物物理特性的影响。为此,我们使用了两种不同尺寸和三种不同电荷的聚苯乙烯 MNPP,并分别用来自健康人类志愿者的唾液孵育。使用动态光散射结合纳流液相色谱-高分辨率质谱(nLC/HRMS)进行粒子 zeta 电位和粒径分析,定性和定量揭示每种粒子类型的蛋白质软冠和硬冠。值得注意的是,蛋白质图谱和相对丰度取决于塑料颗粒的尺寸和电荷,这反过来又影响了它们的水动力尺寸、多分散性和 zeta 电位。引人注目的是,我们提供了证据表明后者是依赖于暴露时间的动态过程。较小的颗粒似乎与周围的蛋白质更具反应性,并且用五种不同细胞系(HeLa、HEK293、A549、HepG2 和 HaCaT)培养的颗粒表明蛋白质冠对细胞代谢活性和遗传毒性有影响。总之,我们的数据表明纳米塑料的尺寸和表面化学决定了人唾液蛋白的修饰,这对 MNPP 在人体内的摄取具有重要意义。