2. Academic Validation
  3. Distinct accumulation of nanoplastics in human intestinal organoids

Distinct accumulation of nanoplastics in human intestinal organoids

  • Sci Total Environ. 2022 Sep 10;838(Pt 2):155811. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155811.
Zongkun Hou 1,  Run Meng 1,  Ganghua Chen 1,  Tangmin Lai 1,  Rui Qing 2,  Shilei Hao 3,  Jia Deng 4,  Bochu Wang 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China.
  • 2 School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
  • 3 Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: shilei_hao@cqu.edu.cn.
  • 4 College of Environment and Resources, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, China. Electronic address: Jiadeng2011@hotmail.com.
  • 5 Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China. Electronic address: wangbc2000@126.com.
PMID: 35597345 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155811
Abstract

Plastic particles, especially nanoplastics, represent an emerging concern of threat to human health, oral uptake is an important pathway for the plastic particles ingestion by human. While their fate and adverse effects in animal gastrointestinal tract are increasingly investigated, knowledge about their uptake and toxicity in human intestine is still limited. Here, by exposing human intestinal organoids to polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs, ~50 nm in size) with concentrations of 10 and 100 μg/mL, we present evidence of their distinct accumulation in various type cells in intestinal organoids, then causing the cell Apoptosis and inflammatory response. Our results further revealed that the effective inhibition of PS-NPs accumulation in secretive cells through co-exposure to a clathrin-mediated endocytosis inhibitor (chlorpromazine), and proved the essential role of active endocytosis in the PS-NPs uptaking into enterocyte cells. Our work not only elucidated the potential uptake and toxicity of PS-NPs in human intestinal cells and the underlying mechanism, but also provide a potential therapeutic approach to relieve the toxicity of PS-NPs to human through the endocytosis inhibition.

Keywords

Accumulation; Endocytosis; Human intestinal organoids; Nanoplastics; Toxicology.

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