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Protocol for acquiring samples to assess the impact of microplastics on immune microenvironments in the mouse intestine
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This paper provides a detailed laboratory protocol for assessing how oral exposure to nano- and microplastics affects the immune microenvironment of the mouse intestine, including methods for administering particles, collecting tissue, isolating immune cells, and extracting RNA. Having a standardized, reproducible method is a key step toward generating comparable data on how microplastic ingestion alters gut immunity across different studies.
Environmental nano- and microplastics (NMPs) pose serious environmental issues, yet there is no established technique to assess their impact on health through oral ingestion. Here, we present a protocol to assess the impact of NMPs in the intestinal immune microenvironments by employing chronic exposure to NMPs in a mouse model. We describe steps for administration of NMPs, feces and tissue collection, and colonic gut digestion. We then detail procedures for isolation of intestinal immune cells and RNA isolation. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Harusato et al..
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.