Abstract:
The pollution of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) has garnered widespread attention and research. The hazards of MNPs to human health and the underlying mechanisms are hypothesized to be associated with cellular senescence. When small-sized MNPs enter the human body, they are internalized into cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner across multiple organs and tissues including the respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, urinary, reproductive, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems, as well as skin and adipose tissues. These particles induce cellular senescence by triggering damages such as oxidative stress, DNA damage, autophagy dysfunction, inflammation, and abnormal signaling pathway, which leads to aging-related phenotypic characteristics such as increased senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity and upregulated expression of p53, p21, p16, nuclear lamin B1, and phosphorylated histone H2A.X. This review summarizes the research progress on the characteristics and mechanisms of MNPs-induced cellular senescence.