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Microplastic co-exposure elevates cadmium accumulation in mouse tissue after rice consumption: Mechanisms and health implications
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In a mouse study, eating cadmium-contaminated rice alongside common microplastics led to 17-38% more cadmium accumulating in body tissues than eating the rice alone. The microplastics changed gut bacteria composition, which increased cadmium solubility and transport across the intestinal wall. This is directly relevant to human health because both microplastics and cadmium are common contaminants in rice, and their combined exposure may increase toxic metal absorption.
Rice cadmium (Cd) and microplastics are prevalent contaminants, posing a co-exposure threat to humans by means of dietary intake. To assess whether co-exposure of microplastics affects the bioavailability of rice Cd, mice were exposed to Cd-contaminated rice with microplastic co-exposure. We found that polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), and polyamide (PA) microplastic co-exposure via diet consumption (2 μg g) caused 1.17-1.38-fold higher Cd accumulation in tissue of mice fed by Cd-rice. For mice with co-exposure of PE microplastics, the higher rice-Cd bioavailability corresponded to colonization of Lactobacillus reuteri (38.9 % vs 17.5 %) in the gut compared to control mice, which caused higher production of gut metabolites particularly peptides, likely causing a 'side effect' of elevating Cd solubility in the intestinal lumen. In addition, abundance of sphingosine 1-phosphate in the gut of mice was reduced under PE microplastic exposure, which may reduce intracellular calcium ions (Ca) in enterocytes and form a weaker competition in pumping of intracellular Ca and Cd across the basolateral membrane of enterocytes, leading to higher Cd transport efficiency. The results suggest elevated Cd exposure risk from rice consumption with microplastic co-exposure at environmentally relevant low concentrations.
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Scientists found that tiny plastic particles in rice paddies make it easier for the toxic metal cadmium to get into rice plants, leading to more contamination in the rice we eat. When microplastics and cadmium are both present in flooded rice fields, rice plants grow less and absorb significantly more of the harmful metal compared to when only cadmium is present. This matters because cadmium can cause serious health problems like kidney damage and cancer, so this research suggests that plastic pollution may be making our rice less safe to eat.
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When mice were exposed to both microplastics and the toxic metal cadmium together, the health damage to their intestines and liver was significantly worse than exposure to either pollutant alone. The microplastics acted like a "Trojan horse," carrying cadmium past the gut barrier and increasing its accumulation in the body, while also disrupting the gut microbiome.
Susceptibility of Cd availability in microplastics contaminated paddy soil: Influence of ferric minerals and sulfate reduction
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When microplastics and cadmium contaminate paddy soil together — a common situation in agricultural areas — microplastics increase the availability of cadmium to plants, raising the risk of cadmium uptake into food crops like rice. The mechanism involves microplastics releasing dissolved organic matter that disrupts iron mineral cycling and promotes sulfate-reducing bacteria, which in turn mobilize cadmium from soil particles. These findings highlight that microplastic pollution in farmland does not act alone — it can amplify the toxicity of co-occurring heavy metal contaminants.
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Researchers investigated how cadmium alone and combined with polystyrene microplastics affects the colon of mice over 42 days. The study found that combined exposure caused more severe intestinal damage than cadmium alone, with distinct changes in gut microbial diversity and metabolic pathways, including shifts in bile acid metabolism and increased abundance of certain bacterial species.
The gut microbiota: A key player in cadmium toxicity - implications for disease, interventions, and combined toxicant exposures
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This review examines how cadmium, a toxic heavy metal found in contaminated soil and water, damages health partly by disrupting gut bacteria. The connection to microplastics is significant because microplastics are known to absorb and carry heavy metals like cadmium, potentially increasing our exposure to these toxins and compounding the damage to our gut health.
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