Impact of chronic exposure to nanopolystyrene on Drosophila development and cancer-related traits

Plastic pollutionisbecomingaglobalenvironmentalemergency,withmicro-andnanofrag- mentsaccumulatinginfattytissuesofmarineandland-basedorganismsorabsorbedbyplants. Their ingestionorinhalationisincreasinglybeingassociatedwithmetabolicchanges,decreased survivalandgenotoxicityinseveralexperimentalsystems,whoseapplicationgreatlyhelpsassess the expectedharmfulnessofplasticpollutiontohumanbeings. Drosophila is anexcellentmodel for investigatingthegenotoxicandtumourigenicpotentialofnanoplastics,andherewepresent our dataconcerningthebiologicale ectsandthecarcinogenicpotentialof100 m polystyrene nanoparticles (PSNPs),focusingonthe Drosophila intestineandimaginalepithelia.First,we characterisedPSNPsbyscanningelectronmicroscope(SEM),bothinanorganic-freemilieuand in the ies'excrements.Second,theirpresence/accumulationintheintestineandthefatbody of wild-type iesregularlyfedwith uorescentPSNPs-additionedfoodwasanalysedby uores- cence microscopy.Thee ectsofanumberofdevelopment-relatedtraitswereinvestigated,such as developmentaltime,eclosionrate,larvalcrawling,adultweightandclimbinginyoungand old individuals, ndingasigni cantreductioninweightanddevelopmentaltime,aswellasa decline intheabilitytorecoverfromstarvation.Inaddition,agenericPSNPs-mediatedDNA damage observedintheintestinaltissuepromptedustoanalysetheexpressionofapoptosis- related factorsinthedigestivetract,andtheirgenotoxicitywasalsoinvestigatedin DNAlig4, rad50 and mei-41 DNA repairmutants.Finally,toassessthecarcinogenicpotentialofPSNPs, ongoing experimentsindedicatedcancermodelswillde netheircontributiontocentralcancer- related traitssuchaslossoftissuearchitecture,massexpansionandinvasiveness.Resultswill bepresentedeitherinadevelopment-oracancer-relatedperspective,soastostimulatean integratediscussion.