A549 as an In Vitro Model to Evaluate the Impact of Microplastics in the Air

Abstract

Airborne microplastics raise significant concerns due to their potential health impacts. Having a small size, larger surface area, and penetrative ability into the biological system, makes them hazardous to health. This review article compiles various studies investigating the mechanism of action of polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics affecting lung epithelial cells A549. These inhalable microplastics damage the respiratory system, by triggering a proinflammatory environment, genotoxicity, oxidative stress, morphological changes, and cytotoxic accumulation in A549 cells. PS-NP lung toxicity depends on various factors such as size, surface modifications, concentration, charge, and zeta potential. However, cellular uptake and cytotoxicity mechanisms depend on the cell type. For A549 cells, PS-NPs are responsible for energy imbalance by mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress-mediated cytotoxicity, immunomodulation, and apoptosis. Additionally, PS-NPs have the ability to traverse the placental barrier, posing a risk to offspring. Despite the advancements, the precise mechanisms underlying how prolonged exposure to PS-NPs leads to the development and progression of lung diseases have unclear points, necessitating further investigations to unravel the root cause. This review also sheds light on data gaps, inconsistencies in PS-Nos research, and provides recommendations for further research in this field.

Polystyrene nanoplastics mediate oxidative stress, senescence, and apoptosis in a human alveolar epithelial cell line

“…In our current research, we utilized A549 cells, a human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, and specifically employed PS-NPs as surrogates to explore the respiratory toxicity associated with airborne NPs. The selection of PS-NPs 800 nm was deliberate since this particular size range has been poorly investigated (27), and prior studies have linked distinct toxicities with different particle sizes (21,44). Moreover, it is well known that developing analytical methodologies to identify and quantify plastic particles in complex matrices is an urgent need for research concerning quantitative toxicity assessment of plastic pollution.…”

“…The internalization of PS particles is a crucial step for cellular toxicity, and several processes involved in the mechanism of internalization have been proposed, depending upon the physiology of particles, such as size, charge, zeta potential, and shape (27). In this study, the internalization of PS-NPs (800 nm) was first suggested by alteration of the internal complexity or granularity (i.e., side scatter) of cells in a concentration-dependent manner (Supplementary Figure S7).…”

“…Goodman et al (24) studied the effects of PS-MPs 1 or 10 μm, resembling particle size found in the atmosphere (25,26) on A549 cells, showing that they caused inhibition of cell proliferation and major changes in cell morphology. In the present study, we investigated the potential toxicity of PS-NPs (800 nm) on A549 cells, which is close to this size range, but it remains largely unexplored (27). To this aim, we assessed the effects of PS-NP exposure on cell viability, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant network activity, apoptosis occurrence, senescence onset, and PS-NP internalization uptake.…”