Early-life long-term exposure to ZnO nanoparticles suppresses innate immunity regulated by SKN-1/Nrf and the p38 MAPK signaling pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans

The widespread use of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) has led to their release into the environment, and they thus represent a potential risk for both humans and ecosystems. However, the negative impact of ZnO-NPs on the immune system, especially in relation to host defense against pathogenic infection and its underlying regulatory mechanisms, remains largely unexplored. This study investigated the effects of early-life long-term ZnO-NPs exposure (from L1 larvae to adults) on innate immunity and its underlying mechanisms using a host–pathogen Caenorhabditis elegans model, and this was compared with the effect of ionic Zn. The results showed that the ZnO-NPs taken up by C. elegans primarily accumulated in the intestine and that early-life long-term ZnO-NPs exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations (50 and 500 μg/L) decreased the survival of wild-type C. elegans when faced with pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 infection. Early-life long-term ZnO-NPs (500 μg/L) exposure significantly increased (by about 3-fold) the accumulation of live P. aeruginosa PA14 colonies in the intestine of C. elegans. In addition, ZnO-NPs (500 μg/L) inhibited the intestinal nuclear translocation of SKN-1 and also downregulated gcs-1 gene expression, which is an SKN-1 target gene. Further evidence revealed that early-life long-term exposure to ZnO-NPs (500 μg/L) did not increase susceptibility to mutation among the genes (pmk-1, sek-1, and nsy-1) encoding the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade in response to P. aeruginosa PA14 infection, though ZnO-NPs significantly decreased the mRNA levels of pmk-1, sek-1, and nsy-1. This study provides regulatory insight based on evidence that ZnO-NPs suppress the innate immunity of C. elegans and highlights the potential health risks of certain environmental nanomaterials, including ZnO-NPs, in terms of their immunotoxicity at environmentally relevant concentrations.