The biodistribution of polystyrene nanoparticles administered intravenously in the chicken embryo

Meiru Wang; Shuhao Chen; Shixiong Cheng; Tom A P Nederstigt; Robert E Poelmann; Marco C DeRuiter; Gerda E M Lamers; Joost J Willemse; Chiara Mascitelli; Martina G Vijver; Michael K Richardson

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2024.108723

The biodistribution of polystyrene nanoparticles administered intravenously in the chicken embryo

Environ Int. 2024 May 9:188:108723. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108723. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylvius Laboratory, Sylviusweg 72, 2333 BE Leiden, The Netherlands.
² Centrum voor Milieuwetenschappen Leiden (CML), Van Steenis Building, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, LUMC Onderzoeksgebouw, Einthovenweg 20, 2333 ZC Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁴ Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylvius Laboratory, Sylviusweg 72, 2333 BE Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.k.richardson@biology.leidenuniv.nl.

PMID: 38744045
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108723

Abstract

Nanoplastics can cause severe malformations in chicken embryos. To improve our understanding of the toxicity of nanoplastics to embryos, we have studied their biodistribution in living chicken embryos. We injected the embryos in the vitelline vein at stages 18-19. We injected polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NPs) tagged with europium- or fluorescence. Their biodistribution was tracked using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry on tissue lysates, paraffin histology, and vibratome sections analysed by machine learning algorithms. PS-NPs were found at high levels in the heart, liver and kidneys. Furthermore, PS-NPs crossed the endocardium of the heart at sites of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation; they also crossed the liver endothelium. Finally, we detected PS-NPs in the allantoic fluid, consistent with their being excreted by the kidneys. Our study shows the power of the chicken embryo model for analysing the biodistribution of nanoplastics in embryos. Such experiments are difficult or impossible in mammalian embryos. These findings are a major advance in our understanding of the biodistribution and tissue-specific accumulation of PS-NPs in developing animals.

Keywords: Heart; Nanomedicine; Nanoplastics; Pharmacokinetics; Trainable weka segmentation.