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Insights into mouse metabolic health and gut microbiota responses to conventional and biodegradable microplastics released from plastic food containers
Summary
Researchers compared how conventional polyethylene and biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics from food containers affect mice over four weeks. They found that both types disrupted lipid metabolism and increased harmful gut bacteria, but the biodegradable PLA microplastics actually caused more severe metabolic disruption than conventional polyethylene. The study suggests that biodegradable plastics may not be safer than traditional plastics when it comes to microplastic exposure from food packaging.
Both conventional and biodegradable microplastics (MPs) are widely used in food packaging and other fields. Although existing studies have indicated that host metabolism and gut microbiota are key hubs for MPs to regulate their physiological homeostasis, the in vivo health risks of MPs released from these plastic food containers remain unclear. Here, we evaluated the effects of irregularly shaped polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs) and polylactic acid microplastics (PLA-MPs) with a particle size range of 1-30 μm on plasma metabolism and gut microbiota in mice. Following a four-week exposure duration, PLA-MPs elicited a significantly more aggravated metabolic derangement when contrasted with PE-MPs. Both PE-MPs and PLA-MPs significantly interfered with glycerophospholipid metabolism. Significant changes including altered 1-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholines, phosphatidylethanolamine in plasma were observed in the PE-MPs and PLA-MPs groups. In comparison to PE-MPs, PLA-MPs exerted a more potent impact on lipid metabolism. Moreover, exposure to PE-MPs and PLA-MPs was found to induce an increase in the abundance of pathogenic bacteria associated with inflammation. PE-MPs induced a greater number of differentially abundant bacterial species, while PLA-MPs led to more significant changes in the abundance of the gut microbiota. Taken together, it can be inferred that PE-MPs and PLA-MPs may exert adverse effects on the liver and intestine of mice. Histopathological examination confirmed that exposure to both PE-MPs and PLA-MPs caused liver and intestinal structural damage in mice, mainly manifested as inflammatory cell infiltration and mitochondrial damage, and PLA-MPs caused more serious damage. These findings indicated the toxicities of PLA-MPs in mice were not significantly reduced compared to PE-MPs, which would also provide new insights for re-examining bioplastic safety.