PMID- 36129437
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20220923
LR  - 20220927
IS  - 1552-9924 (Electronic)
IS  - 0091-6765 (Print)
IS  - 0091-6765 (Linking)
VI  - 130
IP  - 9
DP  - 2022 Sep
TI  - Uptake, Transport, and Toxicity of Pristine and Weathered Micro- and Nanoplastics 
      in Human Placenta Cells.
PG  - 97006
LID - 10.1289/EHP10873 [doi]
LID - 097006
AB  - BACKGROUND: The first evidence of micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) exposure in the 
      human placenta is emerging. However, the toxicokinetics and toxicity of MNPs in 
      the placenta, specifically environmentally relevant particles, remain unclear. 
      OBJECTIVES: We examined the transport, uptake, and toxicity of pristine and 
      experimentally weathered MNPs in nonsyncytialized and syncytialized BeWo b30 
      choriocarcinoma cells. METHODS: We performed untargeted chemical characterization 
      of pristine and weathered MNPs using liquid chromatography high-resolution mass 
      spectrometry to evaluate compositional differences following particle weathering. 
      We investigated cellular internalization of pristine and weathered polystyrene 
      (PS; 0.05 - 10 mum) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE; 0 - 80 mum) particles 
      using high-resolution confocal imaging and three-dimensional rendering. We 
      investigated the influence of particle coating with human plasma on the cellular 
      transport of PS particles using a transwell setup and examined the influence of 
      acute MNP exposure on cell viability, damage to the plasma membrane, and 
      expression of genes involved in steroidogenesis. RESULTS: Chemical 
      characterization of MNPs showed a significantly higher number of unique features 
      in pristine particles in comparison with weathered particles. Size-dependent 
      placental uptake of pristine and weathered MNPs was observed in both placental 
      cell types after 24 h exposure. Cellular transport was limited and size-dependent 
      and was not influenced by particle coating with human plasma. None of the MNPs 
      affected cell viability. Damage to the plasma membrane was observed only for 0.05 
      mum PS particles in the nonsyncytialized cells at the highest concentration tested 
      (100 mug/mL). Modest down-regulation of hsd17b1 was observed in syncytialized 
      cells exposed to pristine MNPs. DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that pristine and 
      weathered MNPs are internalized and translocated in placental cells in vitro. 
      Effects on gene expression observed upon pristine PS and HDPE particle exposure 
      warrant further examination. More in-depth investigations are needed to better 
      understand the potential health risks of MNP and chemicals associated with them 
      under environmentally relevant exposure scenarios. 
      https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10873.
FAU - Dusza, Hanna M
AU  - Dusza HM
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-2011-3710
AD  - Division of Toxicology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Department of 
      Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 
      Utrecht, the Netherlands.
FAU - Katrukha, Eugene A
AU  - Katrukha EA
AD  - Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Utrecht University, 
      Utrecht, the Netherlands.
FAU - Nijmeijer, Sandra M
AU  - Nijmeijer SM
AD  - Division of Toxicology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Department of 
      Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 
      Utrecht, the Netherlands.
FAU - Akhmanova, Anna
AU  - Akhmanova A
AD  - Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Utrecht University, 
      Utrecht, the Netherlands.
FAU - Vethaak, A Dick
AU  - Vethaak AD
AD  - Deltares, Delft, the Netherlands.
AD  - Department of Environment and Health, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit 
      Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
FAU - Walker, Douglas I
AU  - Walker DI
AD  - Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine 
      at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
FAU - Legler, Juliette
AU  - Legler J
AD  - Division of Toxicology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Department of 
      Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 
      Utrecht, the Netherlands.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20220921
PL  - United States
TA  - Environ Health Perspect
JT  - Environmental health perspectives
JID - 0330411
RN  - 0 (Microplastics)
RN  - 0 (Polystyrenes)
RN  - 9002-88-4 (Polyethylene)
SB  - IM
MH  - Cell Survival
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Microplastics
MH  - Placenta/metabolism
MH  - Polyethylene/metabolism/pharmacology
MH  - *Polystyrenes
MH  - Pregnancy
PMC - PMC9491364
EDAT- 2022/09/22 06:00
MHDA- 2022/09/24 06:00
PMCR- 2022/09/21
CRDT- 2022/09/21 10:42
PHST- 2022/09/21 10:42 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/09/22 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/09/24 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2022/09/21 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - EHP10873 [pii]
AID - 10.1289/EHP10873 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Environ Health Perspect. 2022 Sep;130(9):97006. doi: 10.1289/EHP10873. Epub 2022 
      Sep 21.