A recent published study showed that TiO₂ (E171) and SiO₂ (E551), two widely used nano-enabled food additives, increased the translocation of the commonly used pesticide boscalid by 20% and 30% respectively. Such increased absorption of pesticides due to the presence of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in food raises health concerns for these food additives. In this companion study, mRNA expression of genes related to cell junctions in a small intestinal epithelial cellular model after exposure to simulated digestas of fasting food model (phosphate buffer) containing boscalid (150 ppm) with or without either TiO₂ or SiO₂ (1% w/w) were analyzed. Specific changes in cell barrier function underlying or contributing to the increased translocation of boscalid observed in the previous study were assessed. Results showed that exposure to boscalid alone has no significant effect on cell junction genes, however, co-exposure to boscalid and TiO₂ significantly regulated expression of cell-matrix junction focal adhesion-related genes, e.g., downregulating Cav1 (−1.39-fold, p < 0.05), upregulating Cav3 (+ 3.30-fold, p < 0.01) and Itga4 (+ 3.30-fold, p < 0.05). Similarly, co-exposure to boscalid and SiO₂ significantly downregulated multiple cell-cell junction genes, including tight junction genes (Cldn1, Cldn11, Cldn16, Cldn18, and Jam3), adherens junction genes (Notch1, Notch3, Pvrl1) and gap junction genes (Gja3 and Gjb2), as well as cell-matrix junction focal adhesion genes (Itga4, Itga6, Itga7). Together, these findings suggest that co-ingestion of boscalid with TiO₂ (E171) or SiO₂ (E551) could cause weakening of cell junctions and intercellular adhesion, which could result in dysregulation of paracellular transport, and presumably contributed to the previously observed increased translocation of boscalid at the presence of these ENMs. This novel finding raises health safety concerns for such popular food additives.

最近发表的一项研究表明，两种广泛使用的纳米食品添加剂 TiO ₂ (E171) 和 SiO ₂ (E551) 使常用农药啶酰菌胺的转运量分别增加了 20% 和 30%。由于食品中工程纳米材料 (ENM) 的存在，农药的吸收增加引起了对这些食品添加剂的健康关注。_{在这项配套研究中，小肠上皮细胞模型中与细胞连接相关基因的 mRNA 表达在暴露于含有或不含有 TiO 2}或 SiO ₂的含啶酰菌胺 (150 ppm) 的禁食模型（磷酸盐缓冲液）的模拟食糜（1 % w/w) 进行了分析。评估了在先前研究中观察到的作为基础或有助于增加的啶酰菌胺易位的细胞屏障功能的特定变化。结果表明单独暴露于啶酰菌胺对细胞连接基因没有显着影响，然而，共同暴露于啶酰菌胺和TiO ₂显着调节细胞-基质连接粘着斑相关基因的表达，例如下调Cav1（-1.39倍，p  < 0.05），上调Cav3（+ 3.30 倍，p  < 0.01）和Itga4（+ 3.30 倍，p  < 0.05）。类似地，共同暴露于啶酰菌胺和 SiO ₂显着下调多个细胞-细胞连接基因，包括紧密连接基因（Cldn1、Cldn11、Cldn16、Cldn18和Jam3）、粘附连接基因（Notch1、Notch3、Pvrl1）和间隙连接基因（Gja3和Gjb2），以及细胞-matrix junction粘着斑基因（Itga4、Itga6、Itga7）。总之，这些发现表明，啶酰菌胺与 TiO ₂ (E171) 或 SiO _{2的共同摄入}(E551) 可能导致细胞连接和细胞间粘附的减弱，这可能导致细胞旁转运的失调，并且可能导致先前观察到的在这些 ENM 存在下啶酰菌胺易位增加。这一新发现引发了对此类流行食品添加剂的健康安全问题。