利用 SWATH 定量技術分析小鼠肝臟中塑膠微粒毒性之差異蛋白質體學研究

Abstract

近年來，人們對塑膠污染給予了相當大的關注。目前已有研究證實塑膠微粒可能被生物體攝入並通過食物鏈轉移到更高營養水平的生物體內，且人類確實會直接從環境中接觸到塑膠微粒。SWATH 是一種新穎的無標記定量技術，它提供了一種高通量檢測和具可追朔性的定量方法。本研究利用 SWATH 定量技術針對小鼠肝臟中塑膠微粒毒性之差異蛋白質進行分析。在這項研究中，我們不但成功地鑑定出來自 4232 個蛋白質的 31845個胜肽片段，也透過 SWATH 分析成功地量化了 2198 個蛋白質。暴露於塑膠微粒組的組織樣品與對照組的比較顯示，463 種蛋白質在低劑量組和高劑量組中的表現量存在顯著差異。根據 Gene Ontology 和 Metascape 分析，這些差異蛋白質的生物學過程主要涉及細胞過程、代謝過程和生物學調控，且它們可能與檸檬酸循環、小分子代謝過程等途徑有相關，而這些蛋白質也有望成為未來早期肝損傷的潛在新型診斷生物標誌物。這項研究可能有助於我們更加了解微塑膠微粒對生命系統的影響。Quite recently, considerable attention has been paid to plastic pollution. Microplastics may be ingested by organisms and transferred to higher nutrient levels through the food chain. Studies confirm that humans are indeed exposed to microplastics directly from the environment. Sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment-ion spectra (SWATH) is an innovative label-free quantitative technique which provide a quantitation method with highthroughput detection and traceability. Hence, the SWATH-based differential proteomics was applied to investigate differentially expressed proteins resulting from microplastic toxicity in mouse liver. In this study, a total of 2198 proteins were successfully quantified by SWATH analysis. Comparisons of the microplastic-treated groups with the control group indicated that 463 proteins were expressed at significantly different levels in the low-dose and high-dose groups. Based on the Gene Ontology (GO) and Metascape analysis, the biological processes in which these differentially expressed proteins are mainly involved in cellular processes, metabolic processes and biological regulation. These proteins are expected to serve as potential novel diagnostic biomarkers for early liver damage in the future. This study may have a contribution to our growing understanding for the impacts of micro-plastic particles in living systems.