Cargando…

Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells

The increasing presence of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPLs) in the environment, and their consequent accumulation in trophic niches, could pose a potential health threat to humans, especially due to their chronic ingestion. In vitro studies using human cells are considered pertinent approaches to det...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Domenech, Josefa, de Britto, Mariana, Velázquez, Antonia, Pastor, Susana, Hernández, Alba, Marcos, Ricard, Cortés, Constanza
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8533059/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34680075
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11101442
_version_ 1784587220294828032
author Domenech, Josefa
de Britto, Mariana
Velázquez, Antonia
Pastor, Susana
Hernández, Alba
Marcos, Ricard
Cortés, Constanza
author_facet Domenech, Josefa
de Britto, Mariana
Velázquez, Antonia
Pastor, Susana
Hernández, Alba
Marcos, Ricard
Cortés, Constanza
author_sort Domenech, Josefa
collection PubMed
description The increasing presence of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPLs) in the environment, and their consequent accumulation in trophic niches, could pose a potential health threat to humans, especially due to their chronic ingestion. In vitro studies using human cells are considered pertinent approaches to determine potential health risks to humans. Nevertheless, most of such studies have been conducted using short exposure times and high concentrations. Since human exposure to MNPLs is supposed to be chronic, there is a lack of information regarding the potential in vitro MNPLs effects under chronic exposure conditions. To this aim, we assessed the accumulation and potential outcomes of polystyrene nanoparticles (PSNPs), as a model of MNPLs, in undifferentiated Caco-2 cells (as models of cell target in ingestion exposures) under a relevant long-term exposure scenario, consisting of eight weeks of exposure to sub-toxic PSNPs concentrations. In such exposure conditions, culture-media was changed every 2–3 days to maintain constant exposure. The different analyzed endpoints were cytotoxicity, dysregulation of stress-related genes, genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage, and intracellular ROS levels. These are endpoints that showed to be sensitive enough in different studies. The obtained results attest that PSNPs accumulate in the cells through time, inducing changes at the ultrastructural and molecular levels. Nevertheless, minor changes in the different evaluated genotoxicity-related biomarkers were observed. This would indicate that no DNA damage or oxidative stress is observed in the human intestinal Caco-2 cells after long-term exposure to PSNPs. This is the first study dealing with the long-term effects of PSNPs on human cultured cells.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8533059
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85330592021-10-23 Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells Domenech, Josefa de Britto, Mariana Velázquez, Antonia Pastor, Susana Hernández, Alba Marcos, Ricard Cortés, Constanza Biomolecules Article The increasing presence of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPLs) in the environment, and their consequent accumulation in trophic niches, could pose a potential health threat to humans, especially due to their chronic ingestion. In vitro studies using human cells are considered pertinent approaches to determine potential health risks to humans. Nevertheless, most of such studies have been conducted using short exposure times and high concentrations. Since human exposure to MNPLs is supposed to be chronic, there is a lack of information regarding the potential in vitro MNPLs effects under chronic exposure conditions. To this aim, we assessed the accumulation and potential outcomes of polystyrene nanoparticles (PSNPs), as a model of MNPLs, in undifferentiated Caco-2 cells (as models of cell target in ingestion exposures) under a relevant long-term exposure scenario, consisting of eight weeks of exposure to sub-toxic PSNPs concentrations. In such exposure conditions, culture-media was changed every 2–3 days to maintain constant exposure. The different analyzed endpoints were cytotoxicity, dysregulation of stress-related genes, genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage, and intracellular ROS levels. These are endpoints that showed to be sensitive enough in different studies. The obtained results attest that PSNPs accumulate in the cells through time, inducing changes at the ultrastructural and molecular levels. Nevertheless, minor changes in the different evaluated genotoxicity-related biomarkers were observed. This would indicate that no DNA damage or oxidative stress is observed in the human intestinal Caco-2 cells after long-term exposure to PSNPs. This is the first study dealing with the long-term effects of PSNPs on human cultured cells. MDPI 2021-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8533059/ /pubmed/34680075 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11101442 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Domenech, Josefa
de Britto, Mariana
Velázquez, Antonia
Pastor, Susana
Hernández, Alba
Marcos, Ricard
Cortés, Constanza
Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells
title Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells
title_full Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells
title_fullStr Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells
title_full_unstemmed Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells
title_short Long-Term Effects of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells
title_sort long-term effects of polystyrene nanoplastics in human intestinal caco-2 cells
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8533059/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34680075
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom11101442
work_keys_str_mv AT domenechjosefa longtermeffectsofpolystyrenenanoplasticsinhumanintestinalcaco2cells
AT debrittomariana longtermeffectsofpolystyrenenanoplasticsinhumanintestinalcaco2cells
AT velazquezantonia longtermeffectsofpolystyrenenanoplasticsinhumanintestinalcaco2cells
AT pastorsusana longtermeffectsofpolystyrenenanoplasticsinhumanintestinalcaco2cells
AT hernandezalba longtermeffectsofpolystyrenenanoplasticsinhumanintestinalcaco2cells
AT marcosricard longtermeffectsofpolystyrenenanoplasticsinhumanintestinalcaco2cells
AT cortesconstanza longtermeffectsofpolystyrenenanoplasticsinhumanintestinalcaco2cells