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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Food Animal Metabolism Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #428707
Research Project: Detection and Fate of Environmental Chemical and Biological Residues and their Impact on the Food Supply

Location: Food Animal Metabolism Research

Title: Evaluation of PFAS cytotoxicity towards human gastric cells with or without the presence of submicron polystyrene microplastics

Author
item Shelver, Weilin
item Billey, Lloyd
item McGarvey, Amy

Submitted to: American Chemical Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2025
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and micro/nanoplastics (MP/NP) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants. Both pollutants have been detected in food matrices used for human consumption. Microplastics can serve as carriers for other environmental contaminants such as PFAS. Although limited data exist for MP/NP cytotoxicity towards gastric cells, the cytotoxic effects of PFAS and MP/NP combined towards human gastric cells, SNU-1, have not been explored. In this study, the alamarBlue® assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of C8- (PFOA, PFOS), C9- (PFNA, PFNS) and C10- (PFDA, PFDS) PFAS with or without the presence of aminated, carboxylated, and non-modified polystyrene particles (50, 200, and 1000 nm) during 1-, 2-, and 4-hour incubations. At one hour, the relative cytotoxicity was PFDA > PFOS > PFNS >PFNA > PFDS > PFOA indicating chain length as well as the PFAS “head” contributed to cytotoxicity. Increasing the incubation time from 1 to 4 hours further increased cytotoxicity by 7 – 31%. When PFAS was co-cultured with MP/NP, the cytotoxicity toward SNU-1 cells increased. Smaller sized particles co-cultured with PFAS induced greater cytotoxicity in comparison to larger sized particles. Aminated beads co-cultured with PFAS had the greatest cytotoxicity in comparison to the other surface functional groups. Uptake of MP/NP was enhanced when co-cultured with PFAS. MP/NP were translocated into cytoplasm but not nuclei. In summary, longer incubation time, aminated surface, and smaller sized MP/NP co-cultured with PFAS increased their cytotoxicity on SNU-1 human gastric cells.