作者
Aslı Baysal,Ahu Soyocak,Hasan Saygın,Ayse Mine Saridag
摘要
AbstractThe occurrence of micro(nano)plastics into various environmental and biological settings influences their physicochemical and toxic behavior. Simulated body fluids are appropriate media for understanding the degradation, stability, and interaction with other substances of any material in the human body. When the particles enter the human body via inhalation, which is one of the avenues for micro(nano)plastics, they first come into contact with the lung lining fluid under neutral conditions and then are phagocytosed under acidic conditions to be removed. Therefore, it is important to examine the physicochemical transformation and toxicity characteristics after interaction with phagolysosomal simulant fluid (PSF). Here, we focused on exploring how the physicochemical differences (e.g. surface chemistry, elemental distribution, and surface charge) of micro(nano)plastics under pH 4.5 phagolysosome conditions impact cytotoxicity and the oxidative characteristics of lung epithelia cells. The cytotoxicity of lung epithelia cells to those treated with PSF and non-treated micro(nano)plastics was tested by various viability indicators including cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), MTT, and LDH. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity background was examined through the oxidative processes (e.g. reactive oxygen species, antioxidant, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and reduced glutathione). The results showed that all tested surface physicochemical characteristics were significantly influenced by the phagolysosome conditions. The staged responses were observed with the treatment duration, and significant changes were calculated in carbonyl, carbon-nitrogen, and sulfonyl groups. Moreover, the negativity of the zeta potentials declined between exposure of 2–40 h and then increased at 80 h compared to control owing to the chemical functional groups and elemental distribution of the plastic particles. The tested viability indicators showed that the micro(nano)plastics treated with PSF were cytotoxic to the lung epithelia cells compared to non-treated micro(nano)plastics, and SOD was the dominant enzyme triggering cytotoxicity due to the particle degradation and instability.Keywords: Microplasticsnanoplasticssimulated biological fluidsinhalationcytotoxicityoxidation AcknowledgementsThe authors dedicated the study to 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye.Ethical approvalNot applicable. The manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue.Author contributionsAsli Baysal: investigation, visualization, formal analysis, and writing – original draft preparation. Ahu Soyocak: investigation, visualization, formal analysis, and writing – original draft preparation. Hasan Saygin: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing – original draft preparation, visualization, and supervision. Ayse Mine Saridag: investigation.Consent formThe manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Additional informationFundingThe authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.