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Nominally identical microplastic models differ greatly in their particle-cell interactions
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Researchers discovered that polystyrene microplastic beads from eight different manufacturers -- despite being labeled as identical -- had significantly different surface electrical charges, which dramatically changed how the particles stuck to and were absorbed by cells. This means that many microplastic toxicity studies may not be directly comparable, and surface charge should be measured and reported to make research on microplastic health effects more reliable.
Due to the abundance of microplastics in the environment, research about its possible adverse effects is increasing exponentially. Most studies investigating the effect of microplastics on cells still rely on commercially available polystyrene microspheres. However, the choice of these model microplastic particles can affect the outcome of the studies, as even nominally identical model microplastics may interact differently with cells due to different surface properties such as the surface charge. Here, we show that nominally identical polystyrene microspheres from eight different manufacturers significantly differ in their ζ-potential, which is the electrical potential of a particle in a medium at its slipping plane. The ζ-potential of the polystyrene particles is additionally altered after environmental exposure. We developed a microfluidic microscopy platform to demonstrate that the ζ-potential determines particle-cell adhesion strength. Furthermore, we find that due to this effect, the ζ-potential also strongly determines the internalization of the microplastic particles into cells. Therefore, the ζ-potential can act as a proxy of microplastic-cell interactions and may govern adverse effects reported in various organisms exposed to microplastics.
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The ζ-potential of nominally identical microplastics determines their interactions with cells
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Researchers quantified the adhesion behavior of polystyrene microbeads from eight manufacturers to cells using a microfluidic microscopy platform with AI-based image processing, finding that despite being nominally identical, these particles differed substantially in zeta-potential. The absolute value of zeta-potential strongly predicted binding kinetics and adhesion strength, with higher zeta-potential particles binding faster, unbinding slower, and resisting shear forces more effectively, highlighting electrostatic properties as a key determinant of microplastic-cell interactions.
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