Currently, society and industry generate huge amounts of plastics worldwide. The ubiquity of microplastics is obvious, but its impact on the animal and human organism remains not fully understood. The digestive tract is one of the first barriers between pathogens and xenobiotics and a living organism. Its proper functioning is extremely important in order to maintain homeostasis. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of microplastic on enteric nervous system and histological structure of swine duodenum. The experiment was carried out on 15 sexually immature gilts, approximately 8 weeks old. The animals were randomly divided into 3 study groups (n = 5/group). The control group received empty gelatin capsules once a day for 28 days, the first research group received daily gelatin capsules with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles as a mixture of particles of various sizes (maximum particle size 300 µm) at a dose of 0.1 g/animal/day. The second study group received a dose ten times higher—1 g/animal/day. A dose of 1 g/day/animal causes more changes in the enteric nervous system and in the histological structure of duodenum. Statistically significant differences in the expression of cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript, galanin, neuronal nitric oxide synthase, substance P, vesicular acetylcholine transporter and vasoactive intestinal peptide between control and high dose group was noted. The histopathological changes were more frequently observed in the pigs receiving higher dose of PET. Based on this study it may be assumed, that oral intake of microplastic might have potential negative influence on digestive tract, but it is dose-dependent.

中文翻译：

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聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯 (PET) 微塑料对猪十二指肠壁内神经元选定活性物质的影响

目前，社会和工业在全球范围内产生了大量的塑料。微塑料的普遍存在是显而易见的，但其对动物和人类机体的影响仍未完全了解。消化道是病原体和异生物质与活生物体之间的首要屏障之一。它的正常运作对于维持体内平衡极其重要。本研究的目的是确定微塑料对猪十二指肠肠神经系统和组织学结构的影响。该实验在 15 头性成熟的后备母猪上进行，大约 8 周龄。将动物随机分为 3 个研究组（n = 5/组）。对照组每天服用一次空明胶胶囊，持续 28 天，第一组每天服用含有聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯 (PET) 颗粒的明胶胶囊，该胶囊是不同尺寸颗粒的混合物（最大颗粒尺寸 300 µm），剂量为 0.1 g /动物/天。第二个研究组接受的剂量高出十倍——1克/动物/天。 1克/天/动物的剂量引起肠神经系统和十二指肠组织学结构的更多变化。注意到对照组和高剂量组之间可卡因和安非他明调节的转录物、甘丙肽、神经元一氧化氮合酶、P物质、囊泡乙酰胆碱转运蛋白和血管活性肠肽的表达存在统计学上的显着差异。在接受较高剂量 PET 的猪中，更容易观察到组织病理学变化。根据这项研究，可以假设，口服微塑料可能对消化道产生潜在的负面影响，但它是剂量依赖性的。