Exacerbation of polyethylene microplastics in animal models of DSS-induced colitis through damage to intestinal epithelial cell conjunctions

IF 2.9 Q2 TOXICOLOGY

Current Research in Toxicology Pub Date : 2025-01-01 DOI:10.1016/j.crtox.2025.100217

Minkyoung Sung , Yeon-Ji Lee , Soo-Eun Sung , Kyung-Ku Kang , Jae Woo Park , Yujeong Lee , Dongmin Kim , Sunjong Lee , Joo-Hee Choi , Sijoon Lee

{"title":"Exacerbation of polyethylene microplastics in animal models of DSS-induced colitis through damage to intestinal epithelial cell conjunctions","authors":"Minkyoung Sung , Yeon-Ji Lee , Soo-Eun Sung , Kyung-Ku Kang , Jae Woo Park , Yujeong Lee , Dongmin Kim , Sunjong Lee , Joo-Hee Choi , Sijoon Lee","doi":"10.1016/j.crtox.2025.100217","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microplastics are pollutants that occur in various environments and habitats. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease accompanied with diarrhea, and the number of patients has increased worldwide. In this study, manufactured fragmented polyethylene-microplastics in the size range of 10–30 ㎛, were oxidized by exposure to ultraviolet light, and then administered to a dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis mouse model to observe the effects of polyethylene-microplastics on IBD. In the microplastics-treated groups, an increase in disease activity index score, histopathological score, and a decrease in the areas of goblet cells were observed. In addition, the tight junction proteins, ZO-1 and Occludin, were significantly decreased, whereas MPO was significantly increased. Interestingly, E-cadherin, which is an adheren junction, was also decreased, presumably because of the physical effects of microplastics. The results suggest that polyethylene-microplastics worsen IBD and microplastics can affect not only tight junctions, but also adheren junctions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11236,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Toxicology","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100217"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Research in Toxicology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666027X25000039","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"TOXICOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Microplastics are pollutants that occur in various environments and habitats. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease accompanied with diarrhea, and the number of patients has increased worldwide. In this study, manufactured fragmented polyethylene-microplastics in the size range of 10–30 ㎛, were oxidized by exposure to ultraviolet light, and then administered to a dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis mouse model to observe the effects of polyethylene-microplastics on IBD. In the microplastics-treated groups, an increase in disease activity index score, histopathological score, and a decrease in the areas of goblet cells were observed. In addition, the tight junction proteins, ZO-1 and Occludin, were significantly decreased, whereas MPO was significantly increased. Interestingly, E-cadherin, which is an adheren junction, was also decreased, presumably because of the physical effects of microplastics. The results suggest that polyethylene-microplastics worsen IBD and microplastics can affect not only tight junctions, but also adheren junctions.

Abstract Image