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Nanoplastics aggravate the toxicity of arsenic to AGS cells by disrupting ABC transporter and cytoskeleton
Summary
Researchers investigated how polystyrene nanoplastics of various sizes affect the toxicity of arsenic in human gastric cells. They found that while nanoplastics alone at noncytotoxic concentrations did not harm cells, they significantly enhanced arsenic accumulation and toxicity by disrupting cell membrane integrity, damaging the cytoskeleton, and inhibiting ABC transporter activity. The study highlights that nanoplastics can aggravate the harmful effects of co-occurring environmental contaminants even at concentrations previously considered safe.
The coexistence of nanoplastics (NPs) and pollutants such as arsenic (As) has become an unignorable environmental problem. However, there is still a considerable knowledge gap about the impact of NPs and pollutants on human health risks. In this study, the human gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells were used as a model to investigate the toxicity of NPs with different particle sizes and As by MTT assay, western blotting, immunofluorescence and so on. The results showed that 20 nm (8 μg/mL), 50 nm (128 μg/mL), 200 nm (128 μg/mL), 500 nm (128 μg/mL), 1000 nm (128 μg/mL) polystyrene (PS) did not affect cell viability, ROS, intracellular calcium and activate apoptosis pathway in AGS cells. However, noncytotoxic concentration of NPs enhanced the cytotoxicity and intracellular accumulation of As. NPs destroys the fluidity of cell membrane and cytoskeleton, inhibits the activity of ABC transporter, and leads to the accumulation of As in cells. This work highlights that the damage caused by NPs, especially at the level of noncytotoxicity, joint with As cannot be ignored and provides a specific toxicological mechanism of NPs accompanied by exposure to As.