Abstract
The prevalence of microplastic pollution in nature and foodstuffs is fairly well identified. However, studies of micro- or nanoplastics’ cell membrane permeation and health effects in humans are lacking. Our study focuses on examining the interactions of polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with bilayer membranes. We have performed molecular dynamics simulations to study how plastic oligomers behave in bilayers. In addition, we have studied membrane permeation of PE and Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET), a type of PET monomer, with Parallel Artificial Membrane Permeability Assay (PAMPA). As a result, in simulations the molecules exhibited different movements and preferred locations in membrane. PAMPA studies suggested similar preferences in membrane, especially for PE plastic. Our results suggest that passive diffusion could be an important transport mechanism into cells for some small plastic oligomers. Both molecular dynamics simulations and PAMPA have potential for micro- and nanoplastics research.
Highlights
The prevalence of microplastic pollution in nature and foodstuffs is fairly well identified
The possible mechanisms could be passive diffusion or endocytosis but few testing methods have been developed for studying the transport in microplastic research
Parallel Artificial Membrane Permeability Assay (PAMPA) has not been used in the study of microplastics before
Summary
The prevalence of microplastic pollution in nature and foodstuffs is fairly well identified. We have performed molecular dynamics simulations to study the movement of plastic monomers and tetramers in lipid bilayers. Materials and methods In MD simulations PE and PET, two structurally different common plastics, were used as monomers and tetramers.
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