Biol Bull. 2021 Jun;240(3):191-199. doi: 10.1086/714506. Epub 2021 May 12.
AbstractThe production and use of plastic over many decades has resulted in its accumulation in the world's oceans. Plastic debris poses a range of potential risks to the marine environment and its biota. Especially, the potential hazards of small plastic debris and chemicals associated with plastic have not been extensively studied. When buoyant plastic is exposed to ultraviolet radiation, it will slowly degrade and leach chemicals into surrounding waters. These leachates can include additives, sorbed organic pollutants, and degradation products of the plastic polymers. While most hazard assessments have focused on studying adverse effects due to the uptake of plastic, toxicity studies of the leachates of plastics are less common. To begin to address this knowledge gap, we studied the acute toxicity of leachates from diverse plastics in the harpacticoid copepod . Our results show that leachates caused a higher toxicity after plastic was exposed to ultraviolet light compared to leaching in darkness. We observed differences in toxicity for different polymer types: polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene resulted in the most toxic leachates, while polystyrene and poly[ethylene terephthalate] were least toxic. Furthermore, we observed increased toxicity of leachates from some plastics that had been weathered in the real marine environment compared to matching new materials. Our results indicate that both weathering condition and polymer type influence the toxicity of plastic leachates.
摘要 几十年来，塑料的生产和使用导致其在世界海洋中积累。塑料碎片对海洋环境及其生物群构成了一系列潜在风险。特别是，小塑料碎片和与塑料相关的化学物质的潜在危害尚未得到广泛研究。当有浮力的塑料暴露在紫外线下时，它会慢慢降解并将化学物质浸出到周围的水中。这些浸出物可能包括添加剂、吸附的有机污染物以及塑料聚合物的降解产物。虽然大多数危害评估都集中在研究由于吸收塑料而产生的不良影响上，但对塑料浸出物的毒性研究则不太常见。为了开始解决这一知识差距，我们研究了不同塑料在桡足类桡足类动物中的浸出物的急性毒性。我们的结果表明，与在黑暗中浸出相比，暴露在紫外线下的塑料浸出物毒性更高。我们观察到不同聚合物类型的毒性存在差异：聚氯乙烯和聚丙烯产生的浸出物毒性最大，而聚苯乙烯和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯的毒性最小。此外，我们观察到一些在真实海洋环境中老化的塑料的浸出物毒性比匹配的新材料有所增加。我们的结果表明，风化条件和聚合物类型都会影响塑料浸出物的毒性。
