PUBLICATION
Assessment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Symptoms and Gut-Liver Axis Status in Zebrafish after Exposure to Polystyrene Microplastics and Oxytetracycline, Alone and in Combination
- Authors
- Zhou, W., Shi, W., Du, X., Han, Y., Tang, Y., Ri, S., Ju, K., Kim, T., Huang, L., Zhang, W., Yu, Y., Tian, D., Yu, Y., Chen, L., Wu, Z., Liu, G.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-230408-46
- Date
- 2023
- Source
- Environmental health perspectives 131: 4700647006 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Chen, Liangbiao
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Anti-Bacterial Agents/toxicity
- Inflammation/chemically induced
- Lipopolysaccharides/metabolism
- Liver/metabolism
- Microplastics/toxicity
- Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease*/chemically induced
- Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease*/metabolism
- Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease*/microbiology
- Oxytetracycline*/metabolism
- Oxytetracycline*/toxicity
- Plastics/metabolism
- Polystyrenes/toxicity
- Zebrafish/genetics
- PubMed
- 37027337 Full text @ Environ. Health Perspect.
- CTD
- 37027337
Citation
Zhou, W., Shi, W., Du, X., Han, Y., Tang, Y., Ri, S., Ju, K., Kim, T., Huang, L., Zhang, W., Yu, Y., Tian, D., Yu, Y., Chen, L., Wu, Z., Liu, G. (2023) Assessment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Symptoms and Gut-Liver Axis Status in Zebrafish after Exposure to Polystyrene Microplastics and Oxytetracycline, Alone and in Combination. Environmental health perspectives. 131:4700647006.
Abstract
Background Environmental pollution may give rise to the incidence and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common cause for chronic severe liver lesions. Although knowledge of NAFLD pathogenesis is particularly important for the development of effective prevention, the relationship between NAFLD occurrence and exposure to emerging pollutants, such as microplastics (MPs) and antibiotic residues, awaits assessment.
Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of MPs and antibiotic residues related to NAFLD occurrence using the zebrafish model species.
Methods Taking common polystyrene MPs and oxytetracycline (OTC) as representatives, typical NAFLD symptoms, including lipid accumulation, liver inflammation, and hepatic oxidative stress, were screened after 28-d exposure to environmentally realistic concentrations of MPs (0.69 mg / L 3.00 μ g / L
Results Compared with the control fish, zebrafish exposed to MPs and OTC exhibited significantly higher levels of lipid accumulation, triglycerides, and cholesterol contents, as well as inflammation, in conjunction with oxidative stress in their livers. In addition, a markedly smaller proportion of Proteobacteria and higher ratios of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes were detected by microbiome analysis of gut contents in treated samples. After the exposures, the zebrafish also experienced intestinal oxidative injury and yielded significantly fewer numbers of goblet cells. Markedly higher levels of the intestinal bacteria-sourced endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were also detected in serum. Animals treated with MPs and OTC exhibited higher expression levels of LPS binding receptor (LBP) and downstream inflammation-related genes while also exhibiting lower activity and gene expression of lipase. Furthermore, MP-OTC coexposure generally exerted more severe effects compared with single MP or OTC exposure.
Discussion Our results suggested that exposure to MPs and OTC may disrupt the gut-liver axis and be associated with NAFLD occurrence. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11600.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping