Is cell culture a suitable tool for the evaluation of micro- and nanoplastics ecotoxicity?

First evidence of in vitro cytotoxic effects of marine microlitter on Merluccius merluccius and Mullus barbatus, two Mediterranean commercial fish species

“…Keeping in mind that microlitter and MP impacts occur via cell internalization or chemical contamination and that the former mode of action was not expectable due to the large size of particles employed, we investigated additional immunologically-relevant organs that could be reached by the release of chemical contaminants contained by or adsorbed on the microlitter particles, and affected in their physiological status. We believe that our results, obtained in an attempt to bridge the fields of biological oceanography and experimental toxicology, are biologically significant and actual because i) microlitter particles and fish specimens originated from the same sampling site, ii) microlitter cytotoxicity was measured by the well-established, highly-sensitive and unambiguous direct luciferase-based quantification of cellular ATP (Cree and Andreotti, 1997;Mahto et al, 2010) iii) primary cultures were obtained from organs that are key in ensuring immune barrier and competency and iv) the suitability of the strategy for testing for MP toxicity was overall demonstrated and recently reviewed in details (Revel et al, 2021). In addition, fish have been increasingly established as experimental models in the fields of biomedical sciences and toxicology because they share many similarities with higher vertebrates immunology-wise (Miccoli et al, 2021a;Scapigliati et al, 2018).…”

First evidence of in vitro cytotoxic effects of marine microlitter on Merluccius merluccius and Mullus barbatus, two Mediterranean commercial fish species

“…Despite some similarities with the three just-mentioned studies may be perceived, we must highlight that no other research had ever investigated the apical cytotoxic event in primary cell cultures derived from select fish mucosal and lymphoid organs following their exposure to microlitter that had been collected in the same water column from where animals originated (search conducted on Web of Science on October 24, 2021). We believe that our results, obtained in an attempt to bridge the fields of biological oceanography and experimental toxicology, are biologically significant because i) microlitter particles and fish specimens originated from the same sampling site, ii) microlitter cytotoxicity was measured by the wellestablished and unambiguous direct luciferase-based quantification of cellular ATP (Cree and Andreotti, 1997;Mahto et al, 2010) iii) primary cultures were obtained from organs that are critical for ensuring immune barrier and competency and iv) the strategy suitability for testing for MP toxicity was overall demonstrated and recently reviewed in details (Revel et al, 2021).…”

Polystyrene nanoplastics target lysosomes interfering with lipid metabolism through the PPAR system and affecting macrophage functionalization

“…The intestinal epithelium consists of a single layer of epithelial cells; thus intestinal cell cultures are excellent models to understand the final fate of NPs inside the cell and to understand how the cell machinery copes with this emergent pollutant. 12,13 At a functional level, and in addition to digesting and absorbing nutrients, the intestine is critical for water and electrolyte balance, endocrine regulation of digestion and metabolism, and immunity. 14,15 Moreover, the digestive tube is a complex tissue intimately associated with different immune cell types such as intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IEL) and macrophages.…”