Polystyrene microplastics disrupted physical barriers, microbiota composition and immune responses in the cecum of developmental Japanese quails  

作　　者：Lingyang Jing Yuxin Zhang Qingyu Zhang Hongfeng Zhao 

机构地区：[1]College of Life Sciences,Shaanxi Normal University,Xi’an 710119,China

出　　处：《Journal of Environmental Sciences》2024年第10期225-235,共11页环境科学学报（英文版）

基　　金：The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.33372201).

摘　　要：Microplastics,a new type of emerging pollutant,is ubiquitous in terrestrial and water environments.Microplastics have become a growing concern due to their impacts on the environment,animal,and human health.Birds also suffer from microplastics contamination.In this study,we examined the toxic effects of polystyrene microplastics(PS-MPs)exposure on physical barrier,microbial community,and immune function in the cecum of a model bird species—Japanese quail(Coturnix japonica).The one-week-old birds were fed on environmentally relevant concentrations of 20μg/kg,400μg/kg,and 8 mg/kg PS-MPs in the diet for 5 weeks.The results showed that microplastics could cause microstructural damages characterized by lamina propria damage and epithelial cell vacuolation and ultrastructural injuries including microvilli breakage and disarrangement aswell asmitochondrial vacuolation in the cecum of quails.In particular,blurry tight junctions,wider desmosomes spacing,and gene expression alteration indicated cecal tight junction malfunction.Moreover,mucous layer breakdown andmucin decrease indicated that chemical barrier was disturbed by PS-MPs.PS-MPs also changed cecal microbial diversity.In addition,structural deformation of cecal tonsils and increasing proinflammatory cytokines suggested cecal immune disorder and inflammation responses by PS-MPs exposure.Our results suggested that microplastics negatively affected digestive system and might pose great health risks to terrestrial birds.

关 键 词：Microplastics Gut barrier HISTOLOGY Inflammation Immunity Oxidative stress 

分 类 号：X78[环境科学与工程—环境工程]