Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, South Korea; Marine Biotechnology Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Busan 49111, South Korea.
Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, South Korea.
Aquat Toxicol. 2021 Apr;233:105772. doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2021.105772. Epub 2021 Feb 6.
Besides the adverse biological effects induced by microplastics (MPs), the effects associated with sorption of ambient pollutants on MPs are considered as an emerging environmental problem as MPs act as a mediator of pollutants. The present study examines the combined effects of nano(micro)plastics (NMPs) and arsenic (As) by exposing the marine rotifer Brachionus plicatilis to MP particles at the micro-scale (6 μm) and nano-scale (nanoplastics, NPs) (50 nm) along with As. In vivo toxicity, bioaccumulation, and biochemical reactions were used to examine the effects of combined exposure. The results of in vivo experiments showed that As toxicity increased with NP exposure, whereas toxicity was alleviated by MPs, indicating a different mode of action between NPs and MPs in combination with As. The highest level of As bioaccumulation was detected in NP + As groups, and followed by MP + As and As-only exposure groups, whereas no significant difference between groups was shown for As metabolites. In addition, the activity of several ATP-binding cassette proteins that confer multixenobiotic resistance, which is responsible for efflux of As, was activated by As but significantly inhibited by NP exposure, supporting the findings of in vivo experiments. Our results show that the effects of combining exposure to As with NP and MPs differ depending on particle size and provide an in-depth understanding of both environmental pollutants.
除了微塑料（MPs）引起的不良生物效应外，环境污染物在 MPs 上的吸附所带来的效应也被认为是一个新出现的环境问题，因为 MPs 可以作为污染物的媒介。本研究通过将海洋轮虫褶皱臂尾轮虫暴露于微尺度（6μm）和纳米尺度（纳米塑料，NPs）（50nm）的 MP 颗粒以及砷（As）中，考察了纳米（微）塑料（NMPs）和砷（As）的联合效应。体内毒性、生物累积和生化反应用于检验联合暴露的影响。体内实验结果表明，随着 NPs 的暴露，As 的毒性增加，而 MPs 则减轻了毒性，表明 NPs 和 MPs 与 As 联合作用的方式不同。在 NP+As 组中检测到最高水平的 As 生物累积，其次是 MP+As 和仅 As 暴露组，而各组之间的 As 代谢物没有明显差异。此外，几种 ATP 结合盒蛋白的活性被激活，这些蛋白赋予多药耐药性，负责 As 的外排，但 NP 暴露显著抑制了这些蛋白的活性，这支持了体内实验的结果。我们的结果表明，与 NP 和 MPs 联合暴露于 As 的影响因颗粒大小而异，并深入了解了这两种环境污染物。
