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. 2021 May 6;129(5):057003. doi: 10.1289/EHP7612

Figure 1.

Figure 1A is a display of six columns, titled Polystyrene microplastics, concentration of 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 (milligram per milliliter) and three rows, namely, Merge, Nuclear, and 488-Polystyrene microplastics. Figure 1B is a display of five columns titled minutes, ranging as 0, 5, 15, 30, and 60 and three rows, namely, Merge, Nuclear, and 488-Polystyrene microplastics (rows). Figure 1C is a set of twelve flow cytometry graphs. The first six flow cytometry graphs plot count of cells, ranging from 0 to 150 in increments of 50 (left y-axis) and 1 hour for the first three graphs and 2 hours for the other three graphs (right y-axis) across signal of side scatter (S S C)-A, ranging from 0 to 1,000 in increments of 200 (x-axis) for Polystyrene microplastics, concentrations of 0, 0.05, and 0.1 (milligram per milliliter), respectively. The second six flow cytometry graphs plot count of cells, ranging from 0 to 150 in increments of 50 (left y-axis) and 1 hour for the first three graphs and 2 hours for the other three graphs (right y-axis) across signal of side scatter (S S C)-A, ranging from 0 to 1,000 in increments of 200 (x-axis) for Polystyrene microplastics, concentrations of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 (milligrams per milliliter), respectively. Figure 1D is a clustered bar graph plotting scatter intensity per control percentage, ranging from 0 to 500 in increments of 100 (y-axis) across Polystyrene microplastics (0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 milligrams per milliliter) (x-axis) for 1 hour and 2 hours.

Uptake of PS-MPs by HK-2 cells. (A) Cells were treated with PS-MPs (yellow-green fluorescence) at concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8mg/mL for 2 h. Scale bar: 20μm. (B) Cells were treated with 0.8-mg/mL PS-MPs (yellow-green fluorescence) for 0, 5, 15 30, and 60 min. DAPI (blue) was used for nuclear staining. Scale bar: 20μm. (C) Cells were treated with PS-MPs at concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8mg/mL for 1 and 2 h and analyzed by flow cytometry. (D) Scatter intensity signals were graphed and analyzed after treatment with PS-MPs at concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8mg/mL for 1 and 2 h. n=3. **p<0.01 and ***p<0.001 compared with the control group, as determined by two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparisons test. Significance at 1 h: 0-mg/mL group vs. 0.4-mg/mL group: p=0.0025, 0-mg/mL group vs. 0.8-mg/mL group: p<0.001); 2 h: 0-mg/mL group vs. 0.2-mg/mL group: p=0.0039; 0-mg/mL group vs. 0.4-mg/mL group: p<0.001; 0-mg/mL group vs. 0.8-mg/mL group: p<0.001. The data are presented as the means±SDs. The mean and SD summary data for quantification of (D) are shown in Table S3. p-Values for all comparisons in (D) are reported in Table S4. Note: DAPI, 4,6-dimidyl-2-phenylindole; HK-2 cells, human kidney 2 cells; PS-MPs, polystyrene microplastics; SSC, side scatter light; SD, standard deviation.