In vitro toxicity of polyethylene terephthalate nanoplastics (PET-NPs) in human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cell line

Nanoplastics (NPs) are consider as emerging persistent environmental pollutants. Widespread distribution of these nanoparticles is a global problem. However, their toxic effects in mammalian tissues and cells remain mainly unknown. This study aims to investigate the cytotoxicity of PET nanoplastics (PET-NPs) in the human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cell line.

Toxic effects after 72h of exposure to different concentrations of PET-NPs (10–500 µg/mL) were evaluated by morphological alterations, cell internalization, cell viability (MTT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assays, induction of oxidative stress (total antioxidant capacity, TAC), and genotoxicity (comet assay).

Cell viability reduced at all treatment concentrations in a dose–response manner, and 616.7 µg/mL was determined as IC50. No cell membrane damages detected by LDH assay. TAC reduced significantly after 12 h exposure to > 400 μg/mL PET-NPs. Dose-dependent DNA damages were observed after 72 h.

These findings indicated that PET-NPs have significant cytotoxic effects, particularly on genotoxicity and induction of oxidative stress. The results obtained here showed a significant impact of PET-NPs at the tested concentrations suggest a potential impact on humans. Other studies are currently underway to confirm these toxic effects.