Liu Yongchuang, Luo Ruiping, Sun Zhongke, Zhang Yidan, Guo Yuqi, Chen Yanjuan, Li Lili, Yue Zonghao
College of Life Sciences and Agronomy, Zhoukou Normal University, Zhoukou 466001, China.
College of Biological Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
Biology (Basel). 2025 May 9;14(5):523. doi: 10.3390/biology14050523.
Acrylamide (AA) and nanoplastics (NPs) are common food toxicants. However, their combined toxicity and health risks call for further studies. This study aimed to investigate the combined toxicity of AA and polystyrene NPs (PS-NPs) in mice through drinking water exposure. Co-exposure to AA and PS-NPs aggravated colon and liver damage, including more severe inflammatory infiltration, higher levels of colonic and hepatic pro-inflammatory cytokines, and elevated serum content of lipopolysaccharide and activities of diamine oxidase, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase compared to single exposures. Co-exposure also significantly downregulated the expression of colonic tight-junction genes ZO-1 and Claudin-5. Metabolomics revealed that co-exposure induced more profound metabolic disorders in the liver, particularly affecting amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism. 16S amplicon sequencing showed that co-exposure caused more drastic gut microbiota dysbiosis, characterized by a decrease in beneficial bacteria (, , , , , , and ) and an increase in pathogenic bacteria ( and ). Correlation analysis indicated a negative correlation between beneficial bacteria and intestinal-liver toxicity indicators and a positive correlation between pathogenic bacteria and these indicators. Overall, our findings showed that AA and PS-NPs exerted synergistic toxicity to the gut-liver axis in mammals, highlighting the higher health risks of their combined ingestion.
丙烯酰胺（AA）和纳米塑料（NPs）是常见的食品毒物。然而，它们的联合毒性和健康风险需要进一步研究。本研究旨在通过饮用水暴露来探究AA和聚苯乙烯纳米塑料（PS-NPs）对小鼠的联合毒性。与单独暴露相比，同时暴露于AA和PS-NPs会加重结肠和肝脏损伤，包括更严重的炎症浸润、更高水平的结肠和肝脏促炎细胞因子，以及脂多糖血清含量升高和二胺氧化酶、丙氨酸转氨酶和天冬氨酸转氨酶活性升高。同时暴露还显著下调了结肠紧密连接基因ZO-1和Claudin-5的表达。代谢组学显示，同时暴露会在肝脏中引发更严重的代谢紊乱，尤其影响氨基酸和碳水化合物代谢。16S扩增子测序表明，同时暴露会导致更严重的肠道微生物群失调，其特征是有益菌（、、、、、和）减少，病原菌（和）增加。相关性分析表明，有益菌与肠肝毒性指标呈负相关，病原菌与这些指标呈正相关。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，AA和PS-NPs对哺乳动物的肠肝轴具有协同毒性，突出了它们联合摄入时更高的健康风险。
