Photoaged Polystyrene Nanoplastics Result in Transgenerational Reproductive Toxicity Associated with the Methylation of Histone H3K4 and H3K9 in Caenorhabditis elegans

Impact of Polyethylene Terephthalate Microplastics on Drosophila melanogaster Biological Profiles and Heat Shock Protein Levels

“…When organisms consume microplastics, they can accumulate and be passed on to their offspring, leading to transgenerational or multigeneration toxicity [52], as shown in the schematic representation in Figure 7. Life cycle assessments indicate that reproductive health alteration and toxicity may manifest during various stages, such as gamete production, embryogenesis, hatching, secondary maturation, or the transformative processes involved in these crucial biological activities [53]. A study determined that the presence of polyethylene microplastics in the soil at a concentration of 0.5% resulted in a 70% decrease in earthworm reproduction for both the parent (F0) and first filial (F1) generations compared to soil without microplastic contamination.…”

Nanoplastic at environmentally relevant concentrations activates a germline mir-240-rab-5 signaling cascade to affect the secreted ligands associated with transgenerational toxicity induction in C. elegans

“…80 Histone methylation regulation, a form of epigenetic regulation, was required for transgenerational toxicity induction of both pristine and aged nanoplastics. 38,39 miRNA regulation is also a form of epigenetic regulation. 81,82 We further found that the activation of miRNA could mediate the induction of transgenerational nanoplastic toxicity.…”

“…[29][30][31][32][33][34] Due to the short life-cycle, it is useful for the evaluation of transgenerational toxicity of pollutants. 35,36 This animal model can be applied to assess the transgenerational toxicity of nanoplastics (such as polystyrene nanoparticle (PS-NP)), [37][38][39][40] which was affected by the size and modification of PS-NP. 41,42 Moreover, some secreted ligands, including insulin, Wnt, FGF, Notch, ephrin, and their receptors acted together to regulate transgenerational PS-NP toxicity.…”

Transgenerational Response of Germline Nuclear Hormone Receptor Genes to Nanoplastics at Predicted Environmental Doses in Caenorhabditis elegans

“…Meanwhile, C. elegans has a relatively short life cycle [ 30 ], which makes it suitable to evaluate transgenerational toxicity after pollutant exposure [ 31 , 32 ]. In nematodes, transgenerational damage in gonads and neurons could be detected after exposure to pristine and aged nanoplastics [ 33 , 34 ]. For example, using locomotion behavior as the toxicity assessment endpoint, exposure to 10 μg/L of polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NP) could cause the toxicity induction from P0-G to F4-G [ 35 ].…”