Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Apr 20;55(8):5084-5096. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c07384. Epub 2021 Mar 16.
Human exposure to microplastic is recognized as a global problem, but the uncertainty, variability, and lifetime accumulation are unresolved. We provide a probabilistic lifetime exposure model for children and adults, which accounts for intake via eight food types and inhalation, intestinal absorption, biliary excretion, and plastic-associated chemical exposure via a physiologically based pharmacokinetic submodel. The model probabilistically simulates microplastic concentrations in the gut, body tissue, and stool, the latter allowing validation against empirical data. Rescaling methods were used to ensure comparability between microplastic abundance data. Microplastic (1-5000 μm) median intake rates are 553 particles/capita/day (184 ng/capita/day) and 883 particles/capita/day (583 ng/capita/day) for children and adults, respectively. This intake can irreversibly accumulate to 8.32 × 10 (90% CI, 7.08 × 10-1.91 × 10) particles/capita or 6.4 (90% CI, 0.1-2.31 × 10) ng/capita for children until age 18, and up to 5.01 × 10 (90% CI, 5.25 × 10-9.33 × 10) particles/capita or 40.7 (90% CI, 0.8-9.85 × 10) ng/capita for adults until age 70 in the body tissue for 1-10 μm particles. Simulated microplastic concentrations in stool agree with empirical data. Chemical absorption from food and ingested microplastic of the nine intake media based on biphasic, reversible, and size-specific sorption kinetics, reveals that the contribution of microplastics to total chemical intake is small. The as-yet-unknown contributions of other food types are discussed in light of future research needs.
人体接触微塑料已被确认为一个全球性问题，但不确定性、变异性和终身累积问题尚待解决。我们提供了儿童和成人的概率寿命暴露模型，该模型考虑了通过八种食物类型摄入和摄入、肠道吸收、胆汁排泄以及通过生理相关的基于药代动力学的亚模型进行的与塑料相关的化学暴露。该模型概率性地模拟了肠道、身体组织和粪便中微塑料的浓度，后者允许根据经验数据进行验证。缩放方法用于确保微塑料丰度数据之间的可比性。微塑料（1-5000 μm）的中位摄入率分别为儿童 553 个/人/天（184ng/人/天）和成人 883 个/人/天（583ng/人/天）。这种摄入会不可逆转地累积到儿童 18 岁时的 8.32×10（90%置信区间，7.08×10-1.91×10）个/人或 6.4（90%置信区间，0.1-2.31×10）ng/人，以及成人 70 岁时体内组织中 1-10μm 颗粒的 5.01×10（90%置信区间，5.25×10-9.33×10）个/人或 40.7（90%置信区间，0.8-9.85×10）ng/人。粪便中模拟的微塑料浓度与经验数据相符。基于双相、可逆和尺寸特异性吸附动力学，从食物和摄入的微塑料中吸收的化学物质，表明微塑料对总化学物质摄入的贡献很小。其他食物类型的未知贡献将根据未来的研究需求进行讨论。
