Application of transcriptomic profiling to investigate the toxicity mechanisms caused by dietary exposure of nanoplastics in fish

Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Profiling Cellular Heterogeneity and Specific Responses of Fish Gills to Microplastics and Nanoplastics

“…Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has recently emerged as a powerful tool for studying the heterogeneity responses of aquatic organisms to external stimuli in environmental toxicological studies. , Traditional bulk RNA-seq methods provide cell population-averaged gene expression profiles of the whole tissue to the changing environmental conditions. , Based on such measurements, the large fold changes in gene expression of the responsive cells would be overshadowed by other insensitive cells, leading to inaccurate results. In contrast, scRNA-seq allows for the characterization of individual cells within a tissue, shedding light on the intricate cellular heterogeneity and specific responses to environmental pollutants. , For example, heterogeneity effects of bisphenol A (BPA) to zebrafish embryos at different developmental stages were previously examined using scRNA-seq and the results showed that BPA primarily changed gene expression of enveloping layer cells of zebrafish embryos at 8 hpf but affected neural crest cells and forebrain cells at 12 hpf and 30 hpf, respectively .…”