Titanium-doped PET nanoplastics, from opaque milk bottle degradation, as a model of environmental true-to-life nanoplastics. Hazardous effects on Drosophila
Alaraby, Mohamed (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia)
Villacorta, Aliro (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia)
Abass, Doaa (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia)
Hernández Bonilla, Alba (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia)
Marcos Dauder, Ricardo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	Micro and nanoplastics (MNPLs) are emergent environmental pollutants, resulting from the degradation of plastic waste, requiring urgent information on their potential risks to human health. To determine such risks, reliable true-to-life materials are essential. In this work, we have used titanium-doped PET NPLs [PET(Ti)NPLs], obtained by grinding opaque milk polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, as a true-to-life MNPLs model. These opaque PET bottles, with an average size of 112 nm, contain about 3% Ti in the form of titanium dioxide rod nanoparticles. TEM investigation confirmed the mixed Ti/PET nature of the obtained true-to-life NPLs, and the rod shape of the embedded TiONPs. In the in vivo Drosophila model neither PET(Ti)NPLs nor TiONPs reduced the survival rates, although their internalization was confirmed in different compartments of the larval body by using confocal and transmission electron microscopies. The presence of Ti in the PET(Ti)NPLs permitted to quantify its presence both in larvae (2. 1 ± 2. 2 μg/g of Ti) and in the resulting adults (3. 4 ± 3. 2 μg/g of Ti) after treatment with 500 μg/g food of PET(Ti)NPL, suggesting its potential use to track their fate in more complex organisms such as mammals. PET(Ti)NPLs, as well as TiONPs, altered the expression of genes driving different response pathways, inducing significant oxidative stress levels (up to 10 folds), and genotoxicity. This last result on the genotoxic effects is remarkable in the frame of the hot topic discussion on the risk that titanium compounds, used as food additives, may pose to humans.
Grants:	European Commission 965196 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-116789RB-C43 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-00731
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Altres ajuts: ICREA Academia; Maria Zambrano postdoctoral contract (code 693063) from the Ministerio de Universidades, funded by the European Union-Next GenerationEU at the UAB
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	True-to-life nanoplastics ; Internalization pathway ; Oxidative stress ; Gene expression genotoxicity ; Drosophila melanogaster
Published in:	Environmental pollution, Vol. 341 (January 2024) , art. 122968, ISSN 1873-6424

DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122968

10 p, 5.0 MB

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