Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov;30(51):110579-110589.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-30155-x. Epub 2023 Oct 4.

Polystyrene nanoplastics induce apoptosis of human kidney proximal tubular epithelial cells via oxidative stress and MAPK signaling pathways

Zhu Zhu #  1 , Ruixue Liao #  1 , Yang Shi #  1 , Jingyan Li  2 , Jimin Cao  1 , Bin Liao  2 , Jianming Wu  1 , Guang Li  3
Affiliations

Polystyrene nanoplastics induce apoptosis of human kidney proximal tubular epithelial cells via oxidative stress and MAPK signaling pathways

Zhu Zhu et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs) have recently been found to be present in human blood and kidney. However, the renal toxicity of PS-NPs and the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Here, we found that exposure of PS-NPs induced apoptosis of human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) in a size- and dose-dependent manner as revealed by AnnexinV-FITC assay. In addition, PS-NPs promoted ROS production and caused structure changes of mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum. Mechanistically, transcriptional sequencing indicated the involvement of MAPK pathway in apoptosis, which was further confirmed by the upregulation of p-p38, p-ERK, CHOP, BAX, cytochrome C, and caspase 3 expression. This study clarified the molecular mechanism underlying PS-NP-induced apoptosis in HK-2 cells and contributed to our risk estimation of PS-NPs in human kidney.

Keywords: Apoptosis; HK-2 cells; MAPK pathways; Oxidative stress; Polystyrene nanoplastics.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Bhagatte Y, Lodwick D, Storey N (2012) Mitochondrial ROS production and subsequent ERK phosphorylation are necessary for temperature preconditioning of isolated ventricular myocytes. Cell Death Dis 3:e345 - DOI
    1. Cartron PF, Gallenne T, Bougras G, Gautier F, Manero F, Vusio P, Meflah K, Vallette FM, Juin P (2004) The first alpha helix of Bax plays a necessary role in its ligand-induced activation by the BH3-only proteins Bid and PUMA. Mol Cell 16:807–818 - DOI
    1. Chiu HW, Xia T, Lee YH, Chen CW, Tsai JC, Wang YJ (2015) Cationic polystyrene nanospheres induce autophagic cell death through the induction of endoplasmic reticulum stress. Nanoscale 7:736–746 - DOI
    1. Choi SY, Kim MJ, Kang CM, Bae S, Cho CK, Soh JW, Kim JH, Kang S, Chung HY, Lee YS, Lee SJ (2006) Activation of Bak and Bax through c-abl-protein kinase Cdelta-p38 MAPK signaling in response to ionizing radiation in human non-small cell lung cancer cells. J Biol Chem 281:7049–7059 - DOI
    1. Choi YJ, Park JW, Lim Y, Seo S, Hwang DY (2021) In vivo impact assessment of orally administered polystyrene nanoplastics: biodistribution, toxicity, and inflammatory response in mice. Nanotoxicology 15:1180–1198 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources