Polystyrene microplastics induce blood-testis barrier disruption regulated by the MAPK-Nrf2 signaling pathway in rats.

As a persistent pollutant, microplastics (MPs) have been reported to induce sperm quantity decrease in mice. However, the related mechanism remains obscure. Therefore, this study is intended to explore the effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) on male reproduction and its related mechanism of blood-testis barrier (BTB) impairment. Thirty-two adult male Wistar rats were divided randomly into four groups fed with PS-MPs for 90 days at doses of 0 mg/day (control group), 0.015 mg/day, 0.15 mg/day, and 1.5 mg/day, respectively. The present results have shown that PS-MP exposure led to the damage of seminiferous tubule, resulted in apoptosis of spermatogenic cells, and decreased the motility and concentration of sperm, while the abnormality of sperm was elevated. Meanwhile, PS-MPs could induce oxidative stress and activate the p38 MAPK pathway and thus deplete the nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2). Noteworthily, PS-MPs led to the BTB-related protein expression decrease. All these results demonstrated that PS-MP exposure may lead to the destruction of BTB integrity and the apoptosis of spermatogenic cells through the activation of the MAPK-Nrf2 pathway. The current study provided novelty evidence for elucidating the effects of PS-MPs on male reproductive toxicity and its potential mechanism.

Polystyrene microplastics lead to pyroptosis and apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells via NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling pathway in rats.

Microplastics (MPs) considered as a new persistent environmental pollutant could enter into the circulatory system and result in decrease of sperm quantity and quality in mice. However, the effects of Polystyrene MPs (PS MPs) on the ovary and its mechanism in rats remained unclear. In this present study, thirty-two healthy female Wistar rats were exposed to different concentrations of 0.5 µm PS MPs dispersed in deionized water for 90 days. Using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, the number of growing follicles was decreased compared to the control group. In addition, the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were decreased while the expression level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was increased in ovary tissue. Confirmed by immunohistochemistry, the integrated optical density of NLRP3 and Cleaved-Caspase-1 had been elevated by 13.9 and 14 in granulosa cells in the 1.5 mg/kg/d group. Furthermore, compared to the control group, the level of AMH had been decreased by 23.3 pg/ml while IL-1ß and IL-18 had been increased by 32 and 18.5 pg/ml in the 1.5 mg/kg/d group using the enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Besides, the apoptosis of granulosa cells was elevated measured by terminal deoxyribonucleotide transferase-mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining and flow cytometry. Moreover, western blot assays showed that the expressions of NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling pathway related factors and Cleaved-Caspase-3 were increased. These results demonstrated that PS MPs could induce pyroptosis and apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells via the NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling pathway maybe triggered by oxidative stress. The present study suggested that exposure to microplastics had adverse effects on ovary and could be a potential risk factor for female infertility, which provided new insights into the toxicity of MPs on female reproduction.

Gut microbiota in patients after surgical treatment for colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common disease worldwide that is strongly associated with the gut microbiota. However, little is known regarding the gut microbiota after surgical treatment. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to evaluate differences in gut microbiota among colorectal adenoma patients, CRC patients, CRC postoperative patients and healthy controls by comparing gut microbiota diversity, overall composition and taxonomic signature abundance. The gut microbiota of CRC patients, adenoma patients and healthy controls developed in accordance with the adenoma-carcinoma sequence, with impressive shifts in the gut microbiota before or during the development of CRC. The gut microbiota of postoperative patients and CRC patients differed significantly. Subdividing CRC postoperative patients according to the presence or absence of newly developed adenoma which based on the colonoscopy findings revealed that the gut microbiota of newly developed adenoma patients differed significantly from that of clean intestine patients and was more similar to the gut microbiota of carcinoma patients than to the gut microbiota of healthy controls. The alterations of the gut microbiota between the two groups of postoperative patients corresponded to CRC prognosis. More importantly, we used the different gut microbiota as biomarkers to distinguish postoperative patients with or without newly developed adenoma, achieving an AUC value of 0.72. These insights on the changes in the gut microbiota of CRC patients after surgical treatment may allow the use of the microbiota as non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis of newly developed adenomas and to help prevent cancer recurrence in postoperative patients.

Alterations in the gut microbiota and metabolite profiles of thyroid carcinoma patients.

The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship among the gut microbiota community, metabolite profiles and thyroid carcinoma (TC). First, 30 TC patients and 35 healthy controls (HCs) fecal samples were applied to characterize the gut microbial community using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Differential microbiota compositions were observed, with significant enrichment of 19 and depletion of 8 genera in TC samples compared to those in HCs (Q value <0.05), and some genera were correlated with various clinical parameters, such as lipoprotein A and apolipoprotein B. Furthermore, 6 different genera distinguished TC patients from HCs with the AUC of 0.94. The PICRUSt analysis showed 12 remarkably different metabolic pathways (Q value <0.05). Subsequently, we systematically analyzed the gut microbiota and metabolites in the same TC patients (n = 15) and HCs (n = 15). The characteristics of the gut microbiota community were mostly consistent with the above results (30 TC patients and 35 HCs), and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis was performed to characterize the metabolite profiles. In total, 21 different genera (Q value <0.05) and 72 significantly changed metabolites (VIP > 1.0 and p < 0.05) were observed and correlated to each other. Eight metabolites combined with 5 genera were more effective in distinguishing TC patients from HCs (AUC = 0.97). In conclusion, our study presents a comprehensive landscape of the gut microbiota and metabolites in TC patients, and provides a research direction of the mechanism of interaction between gut microbiota alteration and TC pathogenesis.

Altered gut microbiota after traumatic splenectomy is associated with endotoxemia.

Splenectomy carries a long-term risk of postoperative infection, and the chronic, low-grade inflammation associated with endotoxemia may be related to the gut microbiota. In this study, to increase our understanding of the potential cause of the high rate of infection in postsplenectomy patients, we evaluated the differences in the gut microbiota and plasma lipopolysaccharide level of patients after splenectomy relative to those of healthy controls. Thirty-two patients having undergone splenectomy and 42 healthy individuals were enrolled into the splenectomy (SP) and healthy control (HC) groups, respectively. The SP group was subdivided into three subgroups according to the length of their postoperative time. Fecal samples were used for gut microbiota analysis via 16s rRNA gene sequencing, blood examinations and plasma lipopolysaccharide measurements were also taken. Significant differences were observed in gut microbiota composition with regard to the relative bacterial abundances of 2 phyla, 7 families, and 15 genera. The lipopolysaccharide level was significantly higher in the SP group than in the HC group and were negatively associated with five bacterial families with low abundance in the SP group. The degree of the microbiota alteration increased with the length of the postoperative time. The PICRUSt analysis showed that the relative abundances of lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis proteins and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis pathways were higher in the SP group and were positively associated with the plasma lipopolysaccharide level. Significant alterations were observed in the gut microbiota of the splenectomized patients and were associated with plasma lipopolysaccharide level. Further studies are needed to verify whether such alterations after splenectomy are related to an increased risk of complications.

[A experimental study on the effect of fluorine capture of calcium based coal briquette].

OBJECTIVE: To study on the fluorine capture effect of calcium based coal briquette with fluorine capture additive in coal-burning fluorosis area. METHODS: Add proper proportions of calcium based fluorine capture additive in high fluorine coal for making coal briquette were added, and were added the fluorine in coal cinder in order to reduce its emission. Meanwhile, to determine the composes of coal briquette were added, the percentage of fluorine in coal cinder and the concentration of fluoride, sulfur dioxide and PM10 were determinated, to evaluate the effect of fluorine capture and the level of door air pollution. RESULT: After pilot-scale studying on the effect of fluorine capture in 30 households at coal-burning fluorosis area in Guiding of Guizhou Province. The average fluorine capture rate were 71.8%, and the average concentration of fluoride were 0.0052 mg/m3, which reduces by 27.8% in comparison with control group and were lower than environmental air quality standard (0.007 mg/m3); and the average concentration of SO2 were 0.67 mg/m3, which reduces 52.8% in comparison with control group and slightly higher than those of indoor air quality standard (0.5 mg/m3). CONCLUSION: The application of the coal briquette made by calcium based fluorine capture additive could reduce the pollution caused by high fluorine coal, could improve the quality of indoor air.