Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Feb;209:111780. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.111780. Epub 2020 Dec 19.
In the modern society, plastic has achieved a crucial status in a myriad of applications because of its favourable properties. Despite the societal benefits, plastic has become a growing global concern due to it is persistence and bioavailability as microplastics (MPs) to aquatic biota. In order to provide mechanistic insights into the early toxicity effects of MPs on aquatic invertebrates, a short-term (up to 72 h) exposure to 3 µm red polystyrene MPs (50 particles/mL) was conducted on marine mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis, selected as model organism for their ability to ingest MPs and their commercial relevance. The use of protonic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (H NMR)-based metabolomics, combined with chemometrics, enabled a comprehensive exploration at fixed exposure time-points (T24, T48, T72) of the impact of MPs accumulated in mussel digestive glands, chosen as the major site for pollutants storage and detoxification processes. In detail, H NMR metabolic fingerprints of MP-treated mussels were clearly separated from control and grouped for experimental time-points by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Numerous metabolites, including amino acids, osmolytes, metabolites involved in energy metabolism, and antioxidants, participating in various metabolic pathways significantly changed over time in MP-exposed mussel digestive glands related to control, reflecting also the fluctuations in MPs accumulation and pointing out the occurrence of disorders in amino acid metabolism, osmotic equilibrium, antioxidant defense system and energy metabolism. Overall, the present work provides the first insights into the early mechanisms of toxicity of polystyrene MPs in marine invertebrates.
在现代社会中，由于其优良的性能，塑料在众多应用中已经占据了至关重要的地位。尽管塑料带来了社会效益，但由于其持久性和作为微塑料（MPs）的生物可利用性对水生生物群造成的影响，它已成为一个日益严重的全球性问题。为了深入了解 MPs 对水生无脊椎动物的早期毒性作用的机制，我们对海洋贻贝 Mytilus galloprovincialis 进行了为期 72 小时的短期（最长 72 小时）暴露于 3μm 红色聚苯乙烯 MPs（50 个/毫升）的实验，贻贝被选为模式生物，因为它们具有摄取 MPs 的能力及其在商业上的重要性。质子核磁共振（1H NMR）代谢组学与化学计量学的结合，使我们能够在固定的暴露时间点（24 小时、48 小时和 72 小时），对贻贝消化腺中积累的 MPs 的影响进行全面探索，消化腺是污染物储存和解毒过程的主要场所。详细地说，用 MPs 处理的贻贝的 1H NMR 代谢指纹图谱明显与对照组分离，并通过主成分分析（PCA）按实验时间点进行分组。许多代谢物，包括氨基酸、渗透调节剂、参与能量代谢的代谢物和抗氧化剂，在 MPs 暴露的贻贝消化腺中随时间的推移发生了显著变化，与对照组相比，这些变化反映了 MPs 积累的波动，并指出了氨基酸代谢、渗透平衡、抗氧化防御系统和能量代谢紊乱的发生。总的来说，本工作首次深入了解了聚苯乙烯 MPs 对海洋无脊椎动物的早期毒性作用机制。
