KCS

Most studies on the toxicological effects of microplastics (MPs) have been limited to a relatively short-term duration under high concentrations which are irrelevant to human exposure conditions. To overcome the limitation, this study investigated the long-term effects of MP exposure at environmentally realistic concentrations on the mouse cardiac and brain lipidome. The concentrations of MPs were determined based on the reported abundances of MPs in foods and their daily consumptions. In the consideration of size-dependent absorption of MPs through the digestive system, only MPs with size less than 10 μm were exploited for the experiments. MPs were orally administered to mice via drinking water for 1, 3, and 6 months. Relative quantification of lipids was carried out by deuterium oxide labeling for global omics relative quantification (DOLGOReQ). To reveal the relationship between quantitative change of lipids and the exposure conditions including exposure period, size, and polymer type of MPs, statistical analysis using ANOVA for the exposed groups was performed. Our results implied that the reported toxic effects of MPs could have been overestimated due to the use of excessively high concentration of MP.