Impact of particulate microplastics generated from polyethylene terephthalate on gut pathology and immune microenvironments

Akihito Harusato; Wooseok Seo; Hirohito Abo; Yoshitaka Nakanishi; Hiroyoshi Nishikawa; Yoshito Itoh

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106474

Impact of particulate microplastics generated from polyethylene terephthalate on gut pathology and immune microenvironments

iScience. 2023 Mar 25;26(4):106474. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106474. eCollection 2023 Apr 21.

Authors

Akihito Harusato¹, Wooseok Seo², Hirohito Abo³, Yoshitaka Nakanishi⁴, Hiroyoshi Nishikawa², Yoshito Itoh¹

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
² Department of Immunology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
³ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
⁴ Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.

Abstract

Environmental microplastics have emerged as a critical issue in maintaining the planetary ecosystem. In this study, we generated particulate microplastics from polyethylene terephthalate (PM-PET) and investigated their impact in the gut by using mouse models and implementing histological examinations, as well as multi-omics analysis for colonic immune cells and microbiota. As a result, histological approaches showed that chronic and physiological low dose exposure of PM-PET did not affect intestinal pathology and mucin barriers, respectively. Moreover, immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that the numbers of T cells, B cells, macrophages, and granulocytes were not affected by the exposure to PM-PET. However, RNA-seq analysis revealed that PM-PET had a substantial impact on the transcriptome in gut immune cells and their metabolisms, while 16s rRNA metagenomic analysis showed that the composition of microbiota was modestly affected. These results suggest an unexpected role played by the PM-PET in affecting gut immune homeostasis without detectable inflammation.

Keywords: Immunology; Pollution.