Wang Zhanhang, He Yonglong, Luo Muhua, Liu Shujuan, Hou Jinxing, Cao Binyun, An Xiaopeng
College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
College of Animal Engineering, Yangling Vocational & Technical College, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.
Environ Int. 2025 Jun 14;202:109604. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2025.109604.
The accumulation of microplastics (MPs) within the environment caused serious ecological and health problems. Nevertheless, its systemic toxicity to organisms and its mechanisms lack effective evidence. This study established a model of MP exposure through the gavage of polystyrene (PS)-MPs particles to maternal mice on days 1 to 21 of lactation. The results demonstrated that PS-MPs were distributed widely in maternal mice, occurring mainly in the feces, colon, liver and mammary glands. Further experiments revealed that the gut and blood-milk barriers were disrupted, and pathological injury and inflammatory reactions were observed in the liver, gut, and mammary glands. Metabolomic and metagenome analysis indicated abnormalities in hepatic bile acid metabolism and significant alterations in the gut microbiota after exposure to PS-MPs. These alterations led to increased disruption of the intestine-liver axis. Notably, with fecal microbiota transplantation and antibiotic experiments, we observed that elimination of the intestinal microbiota reduced tissue inflammation and improved gut and blood-milk barrier leakage. These findings demonstrated that PS-MPs exaggerated intestine-liver axis disorders by inducing colonic injury, intestinal ecological dysregulation and abnormal hepatic bile acid metabolism. Furthermore, PS-MPs translocated via the intestine-liver axis and exerted broader toxic effects on mammary tissue. Overall, our study uncovered the transfer toxicity of PS-MPs in mice, proposing the possibility of a gut-liver-mammary axis.
环境中微塑料（MPs）的积累引发了严重的生态和健康问题。然而，其对生物体的全身毒性及其作用机制缺乏有效的证据。本研究通过在哺乳期第1至21天给母鼠灌胃聚苯乙烯（PS）- MPs颗粒建立了MPs暴露模型。结果表明，PS-MPs在母鼠体内广泛分布，主要存在于粪便、结肠、肝脏和乳腺中。进一步的实验表明，肠道和血乳屏障遭到破坏，在肝脏、肠道和乳腺中观察到病理损伤和炎症反应。代谢组学和宏基因组分析表明，暴露于PS-MPs后，肝脏胆汁酸代谢异常，肠道微生物群发生显著变化。这些变化导致肠-肝轴的破坏加剧。值得注意的是，通过粪便微生物群移植和抗生素实验，我们观察到消除肠道微生物群可减轻组织炎症，并改善肠道和血乳屏障渗漏。这些发现表明，PS-MPs通过诱导结肠损伤、肠道生态失调和肝脏胆汁酸代谢异常，加剧了肠-肝轴紊乱。此外，PS-MPs通过肠-肝轴转运，对乳腺组织产生更广泛的毒性作用。总体而言，我们的研究揭示了PS-MPs在小鼠体内的转移毒性，提出了肠-肝-乳腺轴存在的可能性。
