Cellular Toxicity of Short- and Long-Term Exposures to Polystyrene Nanoplastics and Microplastics in Fish Skin Cell Derived From Fathead Minnow (Pimephales promelas).

Authors

Trang Thi Nguyen, Kiyun Park, Ihn-Sil Kwak

Published in

Journal of applied toxicology : JAT. Aug 23, 2026. Epub Aug 23, 2026.

Abstract

The ubiquitous presence of microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) is raising concerns about their impact on the health of humans and other living organisms. Due to its tiny size, this particle can accumulate and circulate in the body after uptake, resulting in a variety of harmful outcomes on the organism, such as increased oxidative stress and induced inflammation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of polystyrene MNPS on the epithelioma paulosum cyrini (EPC) cell line. The results of the MTT assay indicated that 0.2 and 1 μm of MNPs did not cause acute cytotoxicity in the cells after 48 h of exposure; however, at longer term exposure with these particles, cytotoxicity was observed in a dose-dependent manner. The accumulation of both nano- and micro-sized plastics was increased as time-dependent manner on EPC cells. However, they showed strong adherence to the cell surface. The fluorescence intensity as accumulated MNPs for short-term exposure was higher in 1 μm of MNPs than 0.2 μm of MNPs. Short-term incubation with MNPs did not induce oxidative stress, as indicated by the insignificant change in intracellular ROS levels. Notably, MNPs did not significantly impact the expression of stress-related genes in either short- or long-term exposure but altered the expression of some cytokine genes in both instances. About 1 μm of PS particles increased pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α at both time points and IL1-β after 2 weeks. While both sizes of PS plastics inhibited the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine at long-term incubation, only the larger size altered the expression of this gene at 48 h. These results suggested that long-term exposure to MNPs can decrease EPC cell survival and induce cell inflammation.

PMID:
42634011
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Aug 2026.

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