Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Heterogeneity Response Genes and Cell Communications in Zebrafish Liver to Polystyrene Nanoplastics Exposure

Abstract

Nanoplastics (NPs) are a group of emerging environmental pollutants with potential toxicity and health risk on biosystem and ecosystem. Investigation of the heterogeneous responses under NPs exposure in biological cells provides us significances to explore the cytotoxicity of NPs. Single-cell transcriptomic analysis gives high-resolution visual insights to tissue cell dynamics and environmental responses. In this article, we used single-cell transcriptomic analysis to study the heterogeneous responses of zebrafish (Danio rerio) liver cell populations under polystyrene (PS)-NPs exposure. A total of 14525 cells were isolated and sequenced, and 23 cell clusters were identified. After unsupervised cell cluster analysis, they were distinguished as hepatocytes_male, hepatocytes_female, endothelial cells, lymphocytes, cholangiocytes, epithelial cells, hepatic stellate cells, macrophages, and erythrocytes. Cell-cell communication of different cell types was conducted, and the interactions of highly specialized parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells were revealed. The hepatocytes dysfunction, the immune disruption as well as the dysfunction of other non-parenchymal cells under PS-NPs exposure were thoroughly discussed, and the heterogeneity responses among different cell types were demonstrated. This study provides an important understanding of the liver cytotoxic mechanisms in response to PS-NPs exposure at single-cell level.