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PET microplastics induce lipotoxicity in the porcine pancreas
Summary
Researchers used proteomic analysis to study the effects of PET microplastics on the porcine pancreas after four weeks of exposure at low and high doses. The study found that PET microplastics induced lipotoxicity in the pancreas, disrupting lipid metabolism pathways and suggesting that microplastic ingestion may affect pancreatic function through altered protein expression profiles.
Abstract Microplastics are a relatively new discovered environmental hazard that can contribute to the disruption of many physiological processes in the organism. There is evidence that they affect the physiology of the pancreas, but research in this area remains limited. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the effects of PET microplastics on the global proteomic profile of the pancreas using LC–MS/MS analysis, with the pig as a model organism. The pigs were treated either with a low (0.1 g/day) or a high dose (1 g/day) of PET microplastics for four weeks. The analysis revealed that PET microplastics affected protein abundance in a dose-dependent manner – the low dose altered the abundance of 7 proteins, while the high dose – 17. The differentially regulated proteins were involved in fatty acid biosynthesis (FASN, KAS), lipid peroxidation (CBR1) and digestive enzyme production (trypsinogen). Complementary colorimetric assays confirmed a significant increase in free fatty acids under the influence of a high dose of PET microplastics. Taken together, these results indicate that PET microplastics may affect oxidative status, induce lipotoxic stress and impair pancreatic exocrine function, suggesting a novel pathway through which microplastics may cause metabolic disturbances.