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Disposable Plastic-Alcohol Leachates as Emerging Neurotoxicants: Evidence for the miR-330-3p/Acsl1 Pathway in Cognitive Performance.
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Scientists found that when alcohol sits in disposable plastic cups, harmful chemicals like microplastics and PFAS (forever chemicals) leak into the drink. In rats, drinking these contaminated alcohol mixtures caused more severe brain damage and memory problems compared to drinking plain alcohol. This suggests that using disposable plastic cups for alcoholic drinks could make alcohol's harmful effects on the brain even worse.
Chronic alcohol consumption impairs cognitive performance via neurotoxic effects. Recent evidence suggests that chemical leachates from disposable cups may exacerbate this toxicity. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were employed to characterize alcohol-induced leachates from disposable cups. Male rats were then administered the respective leachates or alcohol alone via oral gavage every 48 hours for 8 weeks. Cognitive performance was evaluated through behavioral testing, and hippocampal morphology was examined using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Integrative analyses of the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network identified the rno-miR-330-3p/Acsl1 axis as a key regulatory pathway, which was subsequently validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Py-GC/MS and LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that compounds derived from microplastics (MPs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) migrated into alcohol, and subsequent exposure to these leachates induced hippocampal structural alterations, including CA3 pyramidal neuron shrinkage and morphological abnormalities, Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) disruption, and mitochondrial swelling, accompanied by cognitive performance changes. These findings demonstrate that disposable plastic cup leachates exacerbate alcohol-induced neurotoxicity by dysregulating the rno-miR-330-3p/Acsl1 signaling axis. Nonstandard Abbreviations and Acronyms: BBB = Blood-Brain Barrier; MPs = microplastics; PVC = Polyvinyl Chloride; PA66 = Polyamide 66; PFAS = Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances; PFUnDA = Perfluoroundecanoic Acid; PFBS = Perfluorobutane Sulfonic Acid; NOR = Novel Object Recognition; MWMT = Morris Water Maze Test; H&E = Hematoxylin and Eosin; TEM = Transmission Electron Microscopy; DE = Differential Expression; PPI = Protein-Protein Interaction; qRT-PCR = Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; GO = Gene Ontology; KEGG = Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; Py-GC/MS = Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry.
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