College of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, China.
College of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, China.
Environ Pollut. 2021 Aug 1;282:117039. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117039. Epub 2021 Mar 31.
Various microplastics (MPs) are found in the environment and organisms. MP residues in organisms can affect health; however, their impacts on metabolism in aquatic organisms remain unclear. In this study, zebrafish embryos were exposed to polyethylene MPs with sizes ranging from 1 to 4 μm at concentrations of 0, 10, 100, and 1000 μg/L for 7 days. Through qPCR technology, the results indicated that zebrafish exposed to polyethylene MPs exhibited significant change in microbes of the phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia, etc. Moreover, 16S RNA gene sequencing revealed that there was a significant difference in alpha diversity between the control and 1000 μg/L MP-treated groups. At the genus level, the abundance of Aeromonas, Shewanella, Microbacterium, Nevskia and Methyloversatilis have increased remarkably. Conversely, the abundance of Pseudomonas, Ralstonia and Stenotrophomonas were significant reduction after MPs exposure. In addition, the levels of TG (triglyceride), TCHO (total cholesterol), NEFA (nonesterified fatty acid), TBA (total bile acid), GLU (glucose) and pyruvic acid significantly changed in MP-treated larval zebrafish, indicating that their metabolism was disturbed by MPs. Transcriptional levels of glucose and lipid metabolism-related genes showed a decreasing trend. Furthermore, LC/MS-based nontargeted metabolomics analysis demonstrated that a total of 59 phospholipid-related substances exhibited significant changes in larval fish treated with 1000 μg/L MPs. The mRNA levels of phospholipid metabolism-related genes were also obviously changed. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that the abundance of Aeromonas, Shewanella and Chitinibacter bacteria showed a negative correlation with most phospholipids, while Nevskia, Parvibacter and Lysobacter showed a positive correlation with most phospholipids. Based on these results, it is suggested that 1-4 μm PE-MPs could impact the microbiome and metabolism of larval zebrafish. All of these results indicated that the health risk of MPs cannot be ignored.
各种微塑料（MPs）在环境和生物体内被发现。MP 残留在生物体内会影响健康；然而，它们对水生生物代谢的影响尚不清楚。在这项研究中，将大小为 1 至 4 微米的聚乙烯 MPs 以 0、10、100 和 1000 微克/升的浓度暴露于斑马鱼胚胎中 7 天。通过 qPCR 技术，结果表明，暴露于聚乙烯 MPs 的斑马鱼表现出厚壁菌门、拟杆菌门、变形菌门和疣微菌门等微生物的显著变化。此外，16S RNA 基因测序显示，对照组和 1000 微克/升 MP 处理组之间的 alpha 多样性存在显著差异。在属水平上，气单胞菌属、希瓦氏菌属、微杆菌属、内菲斯氏菌属和 Methyloversatilis 的丰度显著增加。相反，暴露于 MPs 后，假单胞菌属、罗尔斯顿氏菌属和嗜麦芽寡养单胞菌属的丰度显著降低。此外，MP 处理后的幼虫斑马鱼的 TG（甘油三酯）、TCHO（总胆固醇）、NEFA（非酯化脂肪酸）、TBA（总胆汁酸）、GLU（葡萄糖）和丙酮酸水平显著改变，表明其代谢受到 MPs 的干扰。葡萄糖和脂质代谢相关基因的转录水平呈下降趋势。此外，基于 LC/MS 的非靶向代谢组学分析表明，在 1000 微克/升 MPs 处理的幼鱼中，共有 59 种磷脂相关物质的含量发生了显著变化。磷脂代谢相关基因的 mRNA 水平也明显改变。Pearson 相关分析表明，气单胞菌属、希瓦氏菌属和奇蒂巴塔细菌的丰度与大多数磷脂呈负相关，而内菲斯氏菌属、副球菌属和 Lysobacter 与大多数磷脂呈正相关。基于这些结果，建议 1-4 微米的 PE-MPs 可能会影响幼鱼的微生物组和代谢。所有这些结果表明，微塑料的健康风险不容忽视。
