Polyethylene terephthalate microplastics affect gut microbiota distribution and intestinal damage in mice

Polyethylene terephthalate microplastics (PET-MPs) have been detected in the environment and human metabolites or tissues; however, their potential effects on humans under actual exposure doses remain unclear. Herein, male adult mice were exposed to 10 µm PET-MPs at concentrations of 10, 50, and 250 mg/kg per body weight consecutively for 28 days. Changes in blood biochemistry, inflammatory factors, colonic histopathology, colonic mucus gene mRNA levels, and the gut microflora were monitored to study PET-MPs toxicity. The results showed that PET-MPs exposure increased relative serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and glucose (GLU) levels in 50 mg/kg bw PET-MPs exposure group, and altered relative levels of inflammatory factors, thereby inducing the inflammatory response. Moreover, PET-MPs exposure increased mRNA expression levels of colonic mucus secretion related and barrier function related genes, indicating intestinal mucus secretion and barrier integrity dysfunction, which was consistent with the results of histopathological results. In addition, gut microbiota analysis revealed that the diversity and community composition were altered after PET-MPs exposure, suggesting a metabolic disorder. Therefore, our results demonstrated that exposure to PET-MPs led to intestinal injury and changes in the gut microbiome composition in mice. Overall, the study findings provided basic data about the health risks of PET-MPs to humans, highlighting that MPs-induced toxicity warrants more concern in the future.