Polystyrene microplastics cause granulosa cells apoptosis and fibrosis in ovary through oxidative stress in rats

Microplastics (MPs) are receiving increased attention as a harmful environmental pollutant. Studies have investigated that MPs have reproductive toxicity, but the mechanism is little known. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) on ovary in rats and the underlying molecular mechanisms. in vivo, thirty-two female Wistar rats were exposed to 0.5 μm PS-MPs at different concentrations (0, 0.015, 0.15 and 1.5 mg/d) for 90 days. And then, all animals were sacrificed, ovaries and blood were collected for testing. in vitro, granulosa cells (GCs) were separated from rat ovary and treated with 0、1、5、25 μg/mL PS-MPs and reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibitor N-Acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) respectively. Our results showed that PS-MPs could enter into GCs and result in the reducing of growing follicles number. And the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) manifested that PS-MPs could obviously decrease the level of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH). In addition, PS-MPs induced oxidative stress, apoptosis of GCs and ovary fibrosis evidenced by assay kits, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, Masson’s trichrome and Sirius red staining. Moreover, the western blot assay manifested that PS-MPs exposure significantly increased the expression levels of Wnt/β-Catenin signaling pathways-related proteins (Wnt, β-catenin, p-β-catenin) and the main fibrosis markers (transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), fibronectin, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). Additionally, the expression levels of Wnt and p-β-catenin, apoptosis of GCs decreased after NAC treatment. In summary, polystyrene microplastics cause fibrosis via Wnt/β-Catenin signaling pathway activation and granulosa cells apoptosis of ovary through oxidative stress in rats, both of which ultimately resulted in decrease of ovarian reserve capacity.