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Compound effect and mechanism of oxidative damage induced by nanoplastics and benzo [a] pyrene
Summary
Researchers examined how polystyrene nanoplastics and a common environmental pollutant called benzo[a]pyrene work together to cause oxidative damage in earthworm cells. They found that the two contaminants had a synergistic toxic effect, with combined exposure producing significantly higher levels of cell-damaging reactive oxygen species than either pollutant alone. The study suggests that nanoplastics may enhance the harmful effects of other soil pollutants by altering how they interact with living cells.
Nanoplastics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous in soil environments. In order to objectively evaluate the toxic interaction between polystyrene nanoplastics (PS NPs) and benzo [a] pyrene (BaP), oxidative damage at the level of earthworm cells and biomacromolecules was investigated by experiments combined with molecular dynamics simulation. Studies on cells reveal that PS NPs and BaP had synergistic toxicity when it came to causing oxidative stress. Cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels under combined pollutant exposure were 24% and 19% higher, respectively than when PS NPs and BaP were exposed alone (compared to the blank group). In addition, BaP and PS NPs inhibited the ability of CAT to decompose HO by affecting the structure of the proximal amino acid Tyr 357 in the active center of CAT, which exacerbated oxidative stress to a certain extent. Therefore, the synergistic toxic effect of BaP and PS NPs is due to the mutual complement of the two to the induction of protein structural looseness, and the strengthening of the stability of the conjugate (CAT-BaP-PS) under the weak interaction. This work provides a new perspective and approach on how to talk about the toxicity of combined pollutants.