Lab of Toxicology, Department of Health Sciences, The Graduate School of Dong-A University, 37, Nakdong-daero 550 beon-gil, Saha-gu, Busan, 49315, Republic of Korea.
Department of Applied Chemistry, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si, 17104, Republic of Korea.
Chemosphere. 2024 Sep;364:143288. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143288. Epub 2024 Sep 6.
The combined impact of trace metals and polystyrene (PS) microplastics is extremely concerning for human health because PS microplastics can serve as a vehicle for other contaminants. Herein, we investigated the combined effect of copper ions (Cu) on the toxicity of PS nanoplastics in vivo and in vitro. The pristine PS (PPS) and ultraviolet irradiated oxidized PS (OPS) nanoplastics with 50 nm-size were conjugated with Cu (13-27 mg/g) for 4 days to get four types of samples: PPS, OPS, PPS/Cu, and OPS/Cu. The comparative toxic potentials of test samples were evaluated using a mouse pharyngeal aspiration model and relevant human cell lines (A549 and differentiated THP-1 cells). The results showed an antagonistic effect in vivo and in vitro by the presence of Cu ions: PPS > PPS/Cu; OPS > OPS/Cu. Furthermore, the OPS produced significantly increased toxic potentials compared to the corresponding PPS: OPS > PPS; OPS/Cu > PPS/Cu. The antagonistic effect of Cu on the toxicity of PS was due to the transformation of Cu and balanced the surface charge of the nanoplastics, which inhibited the oxidative potential of corresponding nanoplastics. These antagonistic effects may provide a better understanding of the combined effects of metals on the intrinsic toxic potential of microplastics under natural conditions.
痕量金属和聚苯乙烯（PS）微塑料的联合影响对人类健康极为令人担忧，因为 PS 微塑料可以作为其他污染物的载体。在此，我们研究了铜离子（Cu）对体内和体外 PS 纳米塑料毒性的联合影响。将原始 PS（PPS）和经紫外线辐照氧化的 PS（OPS）纳米塑料（尺寸为 50nm）与 Cu（13-27mg/g）结合 4 天，得到四种类型的样品：PPS、OPS、PPS/Cu 和 OPS/Cu。使用小鼠咽吸模型和相关的人类细胞系（A549 和分化的 THP-1 细胞）评估了测试样品的比较毒性潜力。结果表明，体内和体外 Cu 离子的存在表现出拮抗作用：PPS＞PPS/Cu；OPS＞OPS/Cu。此外，与相应的 PPS 相比，OPS 产生的毒性潜力显著增加：OPS＞PPS；OPS/Cu＞PPS/Cu。Cu 对 PS 毒性的拮抗作用归因于 Cu 的转化和平衡纳米塑料的表面电荷，从而抑制了相应纳米塑料的氧化潜力。这些拮抗作用可能有助于更好地理解在自然条件下金属对微塑料固有毒性潜力的联合影响。
