Awareness of risks posed by widespread presence of nanoplastics (NPs) and bioavailability and potential to interact with organic pollutants has been increasing. Inhalation is one of the more important pathways of exposure of humans to NPs. In this study, combined toxicity of concentrations of polystyrene NPs and various phthalate esters (PAEs), some of the most common plasticizers, including dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate (DEHP) on human lung epithelial A549 cells were investigated. When co-exposed, 20 μg NPs/mL increased viabilities of cells exposed to either DBP or DEHP and the modulation of toxic potency of DEHP was greater than that of DBP, while the 200 μg NPs/mL resulted in lesser viability of cells. PAEs sorbed to NPs decreased free phase concentrations (C_free) of PAEs, which resulted in a corresponding lesser bioavailability and joint toxicity at the lesser concentration of NPs. The opposite effect was observed at the greater concentration of NPs, which may result from the dominated role of NPs in the combined toxicity. Furthermore, our data showed that oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions were mechanisms for combined cytotoxicities of PAEs and NPs on A549 cells. Results of this study emphasized the combined toxic effects and mechanisms on human lung cells, which are helpful for assessing the risk of the co-exposure of NPs and organic contaminants in humans.

人们日益意识到由纳米塑料（NPs）的广泛存在和生物利用度以及与有机污染物相互作用的潜力所带来的风险。吸入是人类接触NP的更重要途径之一。在这项研究中，聚苯乙烯NPs和各种邻苯二甲酸酯（PAE）的浓度，一些最常见的增塑剂，包括邻苯二甲酸二丁酯（DBP）和邻苯二甲酸二-（2-乙基己基）酯（DEHP），对人肺上皮A549的综合毒性细胞进行了调查。当共同暴露时，暴露于DBP或DEHP的细胞的存活力增加20μgNPs / mL，DEHP的毒性作用的调节作用大于DBP，而200μgNPs / mL的毒性作用对细胞的生存力的调节作用较小。邻苯二甲酸酯吸附到纳米颗粒减少游离相浓度（Ç_自由）PAEs，在较低的NPs浓度下相应地导致较低的生物利用度和联合毒性。在较高的NP浓度下观察到相反的效果，这可能是由于NP在组合毒性中的主导作用所致。此外，我们的数据表明，氧化应激和炎症反应是PAE和NP对A549细胞的联合细胞毒性作用的机制。这项研究的结果强调了对人肺细胞的综合毒性作用和机制，这有助于评估人与人同时暴露NP和有机污染物的风险。