Metabolomic characteristics in human CD34⁺ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells exposed to polystyrene nanoplastics

Nanoplastics is a major environmental concern and may cause potential harm to organisms. Previous studies have found that exposure to nanoplastics inhibited hematopoietic function, however, the effect of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) on the human CD34⁺ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) and its underlying mechanism remains unknown. In this study, the toxic effects were evaluated and the metabolites changes were systematically analyzed using the metabolomics study in combination with multivariate statistical analysis in HSPCs with PSNPs treatment. The results show that PSNPs could be uptake by cells, significantly decrease cell viability and cause cell membrane damage manifested as increased LDH release in cellular supernatant. Besides, the colony formation assay shows that PSNPs exposure can inhibit the proliferation and differentiation of HSPCs. Meanwhile, we found that PSNPs disturbed the metabolic activity, including amino acids, SCFAs, organic acids, fatty acids and carbohydrates, and mainly affect citrate cycle (TCA cycle) metabolism pathway. Those findings are helpful in evaluating the toxicity mechanisms and providing guidance in the selection of potential metabolism-related biomarkers of hematopoietic damage caused by nanoplastics exposure.