Université de Franche-Comté, EFS, INSERM, UMR RIGHT, Besançon, France.
Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CPE Lyon, CNRS, CP2M UMR 5128, Villeurbanne, France.
Nanotoxicology. 2024 Aug;18(5):499-510. doi: 10.1080/17435390.2024.2393643. Epub 2024 Aug 29.
Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most widely used plastics in the world. Its degradation leads to the production of small particles including microplastics and nanoplastics (NPs). Plastic particles' presence poses a health risk. The aim of this work was to investigate the toxicity of two model surfactant-free PE NPs prepared by polymerization of ethylene from cationic and anionic water-soluble initiators on human cell lines Caco-2 and HT29-MTX. After physicochemical characterization, their acute and subacute toxicity profile, including cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, and genotoxicity, was evaluated on both cell lines. Results showed a size increase of PE NPs in culture medium. Zeta potential values close to -10 mV were no longer dependent on the initiator charge after adsorption of serum components in culture medium. However, the cellular toxicity of the cationic and anionic PE NPs was very different. A time-and-concentration dependent cytotoxic, oxidative, and genotoxic effects on Caco-2 cells were only observed for PE NPs prepared with cationic initiators. No toxicity was observed on HT29-MTX, likely due to the protective mucus layer. Genotoxicity correlated with oxidative stress of some PE NPs on Caco-2 cells was observed from a concentration of 0.1 mg.mL after 48-h exposure.
聚乙烯（PE）是世界上应用最广泛的塑料之一。其降解会导致产生小颗粒，包括微塑料和纳米塑料（NPs）。塑料颗粒的存在构成了健康风险。本工作旨在研究两种模型表面活性剂自由聚乙烯纳米颗粒的毒性，这两种纳米颗粒是通过阳离子和阴离子水溶性引发剂聚合乙烯制备的，在人结肠癌细胞系 Caco-2 和 HT29-MTX 上进行了评价。在理化特性表征后，评估了它们在两种细胞系上的急性和亚急性毒性特征，包括细胞毒性、氧化应激和遗传毒性。结果表明，PE NPs 在培养基中的尺寸增加。在吸附培养基中的血清成分后，zeta 电位值接近-10 mV 不再依赖于引发剂的电荷。然而，阳离子和阴离子聚乙烯纳米颗粒的细胞毒性非常不同。仅在用阳离子引发剂制备的 PE NPs 上观察到时间和浓度依赖性的细胞毒性、氧化和遗传毒性作用。由于保护性黏液层，在 HT29-MTX 上未观察到毒性。在 48 小时暴露后，浓度为 0.1 mg.mL 时，一些 PE NPs 在 Caco-2 细胞上的遗传毒性与氧化应激相关。
