Zhou Xiao-Xia, He Shuai, Gao Yan, Li Ze-Chen, Chi Hai-Yuan, Li Cheng-Jun, Wang Du-Jia, Yan Bing
Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, P. R. China.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, P. R. China.
Anal Chem. 2021 May 4;93(17):6698-6705. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c00156. Epub 2021 Apr 19.
There is a growing concern about the effects of nanoplastics on biological safety and human health because of their global ubiquity in the environment. Methodologies for quantitative analysis of nanoplastics are important for the critical evaluation of their possible risks. Herein, a sensitive yet simple and environmentally friendly extraction approach mediated by protein corona is developed and coupled to pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) for nanoplastic determination in environmental waters. The developed methodology involved the formation of protein corona by addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to samples and protein precipitation via salting out. Then, the resulting extract was directly introduced to Py-GC/MS for nanoplastic mass quantification. Taking 50 nm polystyrene (PS) particles as a model, the highest extraction efficiency for nanoplastics was achieved under the extraction conditions of BSA concentration of 20 mg/L, equilibration time of 5 min, pH 3.0, 10% (w/v) NaCl, incubation temperature of 80 °C, and incubation period of 15 min. The extraction was confirmed to be mediated by the protein corona by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of the extracted nanoplastics. In total, 1.92 and 2.82 μg/L PS nanoplastics were detected in river water and the influent of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), respectively. Furthermore, the feasibility of the present methodology was demonstrated by applying to extract PS and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanoplastics from real waters with recoveries of 72.1-98.9% at 14.2-50.4 μg/L spiked levels. Consequently, our method has provided new insights and possibilities for the investigation of nanoplastic pollution and its risk assessment in the environment.
由于纳米塑料在环境中广泛存在，其对生物安全和人类健康的影响日益受到关注。纳米塑料的定量分析方法对于评估其潜在风险至关重要。在此，我们开发了一种灵敏、简单且环保的蛋白质冠介导的萃取方法，并将其与热解气相色谱/质谱联用（Py-GC/MS）用于环境水样中纳米塑料的测定。所开发的方法包括向样品中添加牛血清白蛋白（BSA）形成蛋白质冠，然后通过盐析进行蛋白质沉淀。接着，将所得提取物直接引入Py-GC/MS进行纳米塑料的质量定量分析。以50 nm聚苯乙烯（PS）颗粒为模型，在BSA浓度为20 mg/L、平衡时间为5 min、pH 3.0、10%（w/v）NaCl、孵育温度为80 °C、孵育时间为15 min的萃取条件下，纳米塑料的萃取效率最高。通过对萃取后的纳米塑料进行透射电子显微镜（TEM）分析，证实萃取是由蛋白质冠介导的。分别在河水和污水处理厂（WWTP）进水口检测到1.92和2.82 μg/L的PS纳米塑料。此外，通过在14.2 - 50.4 μg/L加标水平下从实际水样中萃取PS和聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）纳米塑料，回收率为72.1 - 98.9%，证明了本方法具有可行性。因此，我们的方法为环境中纳米塑料污染及其风险评估的研究提供了新的见解和可能性。
