Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, 266237, PR China.
Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, 266237, PR China.
Environ Pollut. 2020 Aug;263(Pt A):114453. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114453. Epub 2020 Mar 26.
Polystyrene nanoplastics (PS NPs), which are newly emerging as particulate pollutants, are one of the most abundant plastic types in marine debris. Although there has been extensive research on microplastics, the sorption behavior of PS NPs in surface waters remains unknown. In addition, in the previous joint toxicity studies, the concentration of organic pollutant in the joint system was based on the EC of this pollutant, rather than the actually amount of this pollutant adsorbed on nanoplastics (NPs). In this study, the sorption behavior of PS NPs with different surface charges in the surface water of estuaries and joint toxicity of that absorbed tetracycline antibiotic in equilibrium were investigated for the first time. Because of the electrostatic repulsion, salting-out effect, and partition function, the sorption capacity of tetracycline antibiotic by differently charged PS NPs was enhanced with increasing salinity. The biological effects of exposure to tetracycline-saturated PS NPs were complicated, which can be attributed to the surface characteristics of mixtures such as hydrophobicity and charges. Thus, the role of NPs in the natural environment as a carrier of antibiotics may provide an alternative for antibiotic inputs from inland water to coastal marine water, which would not only change the environmental fate and ecotoxicology of antibiotics and NPs, but also pose challenges to the safety of coastal aquaculture and marine ecosystem.
聚苯乙烯纳米塑料（PS NPs）作为新出现的颗粒状污染物，是海洋碎片中最丰富的塑料类型之一。尽管已经对微塑料进行了广泛的研究，但 PS NPs 在地表水中的吸附行为仍然未知。此外，在之前的联合毒性研究中，联合体系中有机污染物的浓度是基于该污染物的 EC 值，而不是实际吸附在纳米塑料（NPs）上的污染物量。在这项研究中，首次研究了不同表面电荷的 PS NPs 在河口地表水的吸附行为以及平衡时吸收的四环素抗生素的联合毒性。由于静电排斥、盐析效应和分配函数，带不同电荷的 PS NPs 对四环素抗生素的吸附能力随盐度的增加而增强。暴露于四环素饱和 PS NPs 的生物效应较为复杂，这可归因于混合物的表面特性，如疏水性和电荷。因此，NPs 作为抗生素载体在自然环境中的作用可能为内陆水向沿海水域输入抗生素提供了一种替代途径，这不仅会改变抗生素和 NPs 的环境命运和生态毒理学特性，还会对沿海水产养殖和海洋生态系统的安全构成挑战。
