Department of Aquatic Ecotoxicology , Goethe University Frankfurt am Main , Max-von-Laue Strasse 13 , 60438 Frankfurt am Main , Germany.
Federal Institute of Hydrology , Am Mainzer Tor 1 , 56068 Koblenz , Germany.
Environ Sci Technol. 2019 Oct 1;53(19):11467-11477. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b02293. Epub 2019 Sep 16.
Plastics are known sources of chemical exposure and few, prominent plastic-associated chemicals, such as bisphenol A and phthalates, have been thoroughly studied. However, a comprehensive characterization of the complex chemical mixtures present in plastics is missing. In this study, we benchmark plastic consumer products, covering eight major polymer types, according to their toxicological and chemical signatures using in vitro bioassays and nontarget high-resolution mass spectrometry. Most (74%) of the 34 plastic extracts contained chemicals triggering at least one end point, including baseline toxicity (62%), oxidative stress (41%), cytotoxicity (32%), estrogenicity (12%), and antiandrogenicity (27%). In total, we detected 1411 features, tentatively identified 260, including monomers, additives, and nonintentionally added substances, and prioritized 27 chemicals. Extracts of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyurethane (PUR) induced the highest toxicity, whereas polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) caused no or low toxicity. High baseline toxicity was detected in all "bioplastics" made of polylactic acid (PLA). The toxicities of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene (PS), and polypropylene (PP) varied. Our study demonstrates that consumer plastics contain compounds that are toxic in vitro but remain largely unidentified. Since the risk of unknown compounds cannot be assessed, this poses a challenge to manufacturers, public health authorities, and researchers alike. However, we also demonstrate that products not inducing toxicity are already on the market.
塑料是已知的化学物质暴露源，少数几种突出的与塑料相关的化学物质，如双酚 A 和邻苯二甲酸酯，已经得到了深入研究。然而，目前仍缺乏对塑料中存在的复杂化学混合物的全面描述。在这项研究中，我们使用体外生物测定法和非靶向高分辨率质谱法，根据毒性和化学特征，对涵盖八大主要聚合物类型的消费类塑料产品进行基准测试。在 34 种塑料提取物中，有 74%（24 种）含有至少一种引发终点的化学物质，包括基线毒性（62%）、氧化应激（41%）、细胞毒性（32%）、雌激素活性（12%）和抗雄激素活性（27%）。总共检测到 1411 种特征，暂定鉴定出 260 种，包括单体、添加剂和非故意添加物质，并对 27 种化学物质进行了优先级排序。聚氯乙烯（PVC）和聚氨酯（PUR）的提取物引起的毒性最高，而聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）和高密度聚乙烯（HDPE）则没有或只有低毒性。所有由聚乳酸（PLA）制成的“生物塑料”都表现出高基线毒性。低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）、聚苯乙烯（PS）和聚丙烯（PP）的毒性各不相同。我们的研究表明，消费类塑料中含有具有体外毒性但在很大程度上未被识别的化合物。由于无法评估未知化合物的风险，这对制造商、公共卫生当局和研究人员都构成了挑战。然而，我们也证明，没有引发毒性的产品已经在市场上销售。
