Toxicity of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in the Liver and Intestine of Normal and High‐Fat‐Diet Juvenile Zebrafish

Abstract

Nanoplastics (NPs) are widely found and threaten environmental and biological safety, because they do not degrade completely. We aimed to preliminarily explore the toxicity of NPs in obese children, as childhood obesity is a growing global health concern. As such, in this study, zebrafish were used as a vertebrate toxicological model to examine the hepatic lipid metabolism and gut microbiota in juvenile zebrafish exposed to 1000 μg/L PS NPs and high‐fat diet (HFD)using Raman spectroscopy, pathological examination, transcriptome, and 16S sequencing techniques. Our study showed that PS NPs perturb the lipid metabolism and gut microbiota stability in zebrafish. Furthermore, the combined effects of PS NPs and HFD resulted in gastrointestinal injury. This study is one of the first to investigate the toxicity of PS NPs to normal diet (ND) and HFD juvenile zebrafish using confocal Raman spectroscopy. Our results signify the importance of a healthy diet and a reduction in the use of plasticware.

Polystyrene Nanoplastics Induce Lipid Metabolism Disorder by Activating the PERK-ATF4 Signaling Pathway in Mice

“…However, smaller MPs are more likely to enter the cellular and somatic circulations and accumulate in organs such as the liver. , Therefore, we chose nanoplastics as the subject of our study. In addition, some studies have shown that some hazardous substances in plastics, such as bisphenol A and Di (2-ethylhexyl), cause lipid metabolism disorders in mice. , Current research on the effects of MPs/NPs on the liver involves various model organisms, such as fish, mice, and lamb. − However, further investigation is needed to determine whether PS-NPs can induce lipid metabolism disorder in mice and to investigate the specific underlying mechanisms.…”