Vladimir Kovacevic*
School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade
vladimir.kovacevic [at] etf.bg.ac.rs
Abstract
The widespread use of plastics in various industries has led to the accumulation of its micro and nano particles in the environment, raising concerns about their potential impact on human cellular processes and health. In particular, the interaction of nanoplastics with biological systems remains largely unexplored. In the conducted study, we exposed human peripheral blood samples to carboxylated polystyrene nanoparticles of different particle sizes and performed single-cell RNA sequencing to examine their effects on gene expression profiles. By utilising microfluidic chip-based exposure platform with physiologically relevant cell culture, controlled exposure dynamics, and preservation of native cell–cell interactions we achieved closer approximation to human in vivo conditions. Our results reveal distinct gene expression patterns and cellular responses to nanoplastic exposure: monocytes and CD4+ T cells show particularly high numbers of differentially expressed genes with a strong bias toward downregulation (3.3-5.7 times more than upregulated), and smaller nanoparticles elicit broader transcriptional changes across all immune cell types. While monocytes undergo size-dependent, pathway-coherent state remodeling, B cells and CD4⁺ T cells display distributed, lineage-preserving transcriptional tuning without discrete state transitions. These findings could contribute to better understanding of potential risks to human health and well-being.
Keywords: Nanoplastics, single-cell RNA sequencing