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Polylactic acid microplastics as metabolic disruptors: Linking gut dysbiosis to systemic toxicity by disrupting microbiota-host co-metabolism.
Summary
This review pulls together existing research on tiny plastic particles from polylactic acid (PLA)—a "biodegradable" plastic used in things like food packaging and disposable cutlery—showing they can build up in the gut, damage its protective lining, and throw off the balance of gut bacteria. Scientists think this gut disruption may trigger inflammation and even affect the liver and body-wide metabolism, though this specific chain of events hasn't been directly proven yet for PLA particles. The takeaway: even "eco-friendly" plastics may carry hidden health risks, and more research is needed to understand exactly how they affect our
The increasing application of polylactic acid (PLA) in consumer products leads to the widespread environmental distribution of its micro- and nano-plastics (PLA-MNPs). These particles pose potential health risks following environmental exposure, yet the mechanisms underlying their systemic toxicity remain inadequately defined. This review synthesizes current evidence demonstrating that PLA-MNPs accumulate in the intestine, compromising the gut barrier and inducing dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. We also explore the hypothetical role of disrupted gut microbiota-host co-metabolism - particularly involving aromatic amino acid pathways such as tryptophan metabolism - as a potential mechanism linking PLA-MNPs exposure to intestinal inflammation and injury, while acknowledging the current lack of direct experimental evidence for PLA-MNPs-specific effects on these pathways. By integrating literature on the gut-liver axis, we further elucidate how intestinal injury propagates to systemic metabolic disturbances. This overview aims to provide a structured synthesis of existing findings, identify key knowledge gaps, and suggest targeted approaches for future mechanistic and exposure-informed risk assessment of PLA-MNPs.