Microplastics affect arsenic bioavailability by altering gut microbiota and metabolites in a mouse model

作者：Shan Chen, Jin-Lei Yang, Yao-Sheng Zhang, Hongyu Wang, Xin-Ying Lin, Rong-Yue Xue, Mengya Li, Shiwei Li, Albert L. Juhasz, Q. Lena, Dongmei Zhou, Hongbo Li · 发表于：Environmental Pollution · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121376 · 被引用次数：28 · 研究领域：Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity、Arsenic contamination and mitigation、Microplastics and Plastic Pollution

Microplastics exposure is a new human health crisis. Although progress in understanding health effects of microplastic exposure has been made, microplastic impacts on absorption of co-exposure toxic pollutants such as arsenic (As), i.e., oral bioavailability, remain unclear. Microplastic ingestion may interfere As biotransformation , gut microbiota , and/or gut metabolites, thereby affecting As oral bioavailability. Here, mice were exposed to arsenate (6 μg As g −1 ) alone and in combination with polyethylene particles of 30 and 200 μm (PE-30 and PE-200 having surface area of 2.17 × 10 3 and 3.23 × 10 2 cm 2 g −1 ) in diet (2, 20, and 200 μg PE g −1 ) to determine the influence of microplastic co-ingestion on arsenic (As) oral bioavailability. By determining the percentage of cumulative As consumption recovered in urine of mice, As oral bioavailability increased significantly ( P < 0.05) from 72.0 ± 5.41% to 89.7 ± 6.33% with PE-30 at 200 μg PE g −1 rather than with PE-200 at 2, 20, and 200 μg PE g −1 (58.5 ± 19.0%, 72.3 ± 6.28%, and 69.2 ± 17.8%). Both PE-30 and PE-200 exerted limited effects on pre- and post-absorption As biotransformation in intestinal content, intestine tissue, feces, and urine. They affected gut microbiota dose-dependently, with lower exposure concentrations having more pronounced effects. Consistent with the PE-30-specific As oral bioavailability increase, PE exposure significantly up-regulated gut metabolite expression, and PE-30 exerted greater effect...