Cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory effect of polystyrene nano-plastic and micro-plastic on RAW264.7 cells

• Published in: Toxicology (Amsterdam) Vol. 484; p. 153391
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiaoxia, Ren, Xiao-Min, He, Huan, Li, Fan, Liu, Kunqian, Zhao, Fenqing, Hu, Huixiang, Zhang, Pingping, Huang, Bin, Pan, Xuejun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 15.01.2023
• Subjects: Animals; Apoptosis; Cytokines; Inflammatory cytokines; Intestinal inflammation; Macrophages; Mice; Micro/nano-plastic; Microplastics; Polystyrenes - toxicity; RAW 264.7 Cells; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Micro/nano-plastic; Intestinal inflammation; Inflammatory cytokines; Macrophages; Apoptosis
• ISSN: 0300-483X; 1879-3185
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tox.2022.153391

Numerous studies have shown that exposure to micro- or nano-plastics led to the cell viability and function of macrophages in the intestine tissue might be one possible mechanism. This study investigated the cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory effect of 80 nm polystyrene-nano-plastic (PS-NP) and 3 µm PS-micro-plastic (PS-MP) on mouse macrophages RAW264.7 cells. Our results showed that exposure to PS-NP or PS-MP induced apoptosis of cells at 5 or 10 μg/mL, respectively. Besides, PS-NP enhanced the secretion of inflammatory cytokines (Tumor necrosis factor-α, Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-10) with the lowest effective concentration (LOEC) of 1, 0.01, and 0.01 μg/mL, respectively. PS-MP enhanced secretion of TNF-α and IL-10 with the LOEC of 1 and 0.01 μg/mL, respectively. We further studied the possible mechanisms of the effects of PS-NP or PS-MP on RAW264.7 cells. We found they might cause cytotoxicity and inflammatory effects by producing reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide in the cells. Accordingly, our results demonstrated that PS-NP and PS-MP had cytotoxicity and pro-inflammatory effect on macrophages, which might further lead to intestinal inflammation. Moreover, we revealed that the PS-NP had more potent adverse impacts on macrophages than PS-MP. [Display omitted] •Nano-plastic and micro-plastic showed cytotoxicity on RAW264.7 cells.•Nano-plastic and micro-plastic showed pro-inflammatory effect on RAW264.7 cells.•Nano-plastic showed more potent adverse impacts on macrophages than micro-plastic.•The adverse effects might be due to the production of ROS and NO in the cells.