Aged nanoplastics (aged-NPs) have unique characteristics endowed by environmental actions, such as rough surface, high oxygen content. Although studies have highlighted the potential hazards of aged-NPs, limited research has provided strategies for aged-NPs pollution remediation. The dietary intervention of quercetin is a novel insight to address the health risks of aged-NPs. This study explored the impact of aged-NPs on intestinal barrier homeostasis at the environmentally relevant dose and investigated the alleviating effects of quercetin on aged-NPs toxicity through transcriptomics and molecular biology analysis. It indicated that aged-NPs induced intestinal barrier dysfunction, which was characterized by higher permeability, increased inflammation, and loss of epithelial integrity, while quercetin restored it. Aged-NPs disrupted redox homeostasis, upregulated inflammatory genes controlled by AP-1, and led to Bax-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis. Quercetin intervention effectively mitigated inflammation and apoptosis by activating the Nrf2. Thus, quercetin decreased intestinal free radical levels, inhibiting the phosphorylation of p38 and JNK. This study unveiled the harmful effects of aged-NPs on intestinal homeostasis and the practicability of dietary intervention against aged-NPs toxicity. These findings broaden the understanding of the NPs toxicity and provide an effective dietary strategy to relieve the health risks of NPs. Growing levels of NPs pollution have represented severe health hazards to the population. This study focuses on the toxic mechanism of aged-NPs on the intestinal barrier and the alleviating effect of quercetin dietary intervention, which considers the environmental action and relevant dose. It revealed the harmful effects of aged-NPs on intestinal inflammation with the key point of free radical generation. Furthermore, a quercetin-rich diet holds significant promise for addressing and reversing intestinal damage caused by aged-NPs by maintaining intracellular redox homeostasis. These findings provide an effective dietary strategy to remediate human health risks caused by NPs.

中文翻译：

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纳米塑料诱发的健康风险：深入了解肠道屏障稳态和通过饮食干预的潜在补救策略


老化的纳米塑料（老化的纳米颗粒）具有环境作用赋予的独特特性，例如表面粗糙、氧含量高。尽管研究强调了老化纳米粒子的潜在危害，但有限的研究为老化纳米粒子污染修复提供了策略。槲皮素的饮食干预是解决老年纳米颗粒健康风险的新见解。本研究探讨了环境相关剂量下老化纳米颗粒对肠道屏障稳态的影响，并通过转录组学和分子生物学分析研究了槲皮素对老化纳米颗粒毒性的缓解作用。这表明老化的纳米粒子会引起肠道屏障功能障碍，其特点是通透性更高、炎症增加和上皮完整性丧失，而槲皮素则可以恢复这种功能。老化的纳米粒子破坏了氧化还原稳态，上调了 AP-1 控制的炎症基因，并导致 Bax 依赖性线粒体凋亡。槲皮素干预通过激活 Nrf2 有效减轻炎症和细胞凋亡。因此，槲皮素降低肠道自由基水平，抑制 p38 和 JNK 的磷酸化。这项研究揭示了老化纳米颗粒对肠道稳态的有害影响以及针对老化纳米颗粒毒性的饮食干预的实用性。这些发现拓宽了对纳米颗粒毒性的认识，并提供了有效的饮食策略来减轻纳米颗粒的健康风险。日益严重的纳米粒子污染对人们的健康构成了严重的危害。本研究重点研究老化纳米粒子对肠道屏障的毒性机制以及槲皮素饮食干预的缓解作用，其中考虑了环境作用和相关剂量。 它揭示了老化纳米粒子对肠道炎症的有害影响，重点是自由基的产生。此外，富含槲皮素的饮食对于通过维持细胞内氧化还原稳态来解决和逆转老化纳米粒子引起的肠道损伤具有重要前景。这些发现提供了一种有效的饮食策略来纠正纳米粒子引起的人类健康风险。