Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany.
Department of Ecological Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany.
Anal Bioanal Chem. 2022 Feb;414(4):1469-1479. doi: 10.1007/s00216-021-03798-3. Epub 2021 Dec 22.
Plastics undergo successive fragmentation and chemical leaching steps in the environment due to weathering processes such as photo-oxidation. Here, we report the effects of leachates from UV-irradiated microplastics towards the chlorophyte Scenedesmus vacuolatus. The microplastics tested were derived from an additive-containing electronic waste (EW) and a computer keyboard (KB) as well as commercial virgin polymers with low additive content, including polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS). Whereas leachates from additive-containing EW and KB induced severe effects, the leachates from virgin PET, PP, and PS did not show substantial adverse effects in our autotrophic test system. Leachates from PE reduced algae biomass, cell growth, and photosynthetic activity. Experimental data were consistent with predicted effect concentrations based on the ionization-corrected liposome/water distribution ratios (D) of polymer degradation products of PE (mono- and dicarboxylic acids), indicating that leachates from weathering PE were mainly baseline toxic. This study provides insight into algae toxicity elicited by leachates from UV-weathered microplastics of different origin, complementing the current particle- vs. chemical-focused research towards the toxicity of plastics and their leachates.
由于风化过程（如光氧化），塑料在环境中会经历连续的碎片化和化学浸出步骤。在这里，我们报告了经紫外线照射的微塑料浸出物对绿藻 Scenedesmus vacuolatus 的影响。测试的微塑料来自含有添加剂的电子废物 (EW) 和计算机键盘 (KB) 以及添加剂含量低的商业原始聚合物，包括聚乙烯 (PE)、聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯 (PET)、聚丙烯 (PP) 和聚苯乙烯 (PS)。尽管来自含添加剂的 EW 和 KB 的浸出物会引起严重的影响，但来自原始 PET、PP 和 PS 的浸出物在我们的自养测试系统中并未显示出明显的不良影响。PE 的浸出物会降低藻类生物量、细胞生长和光合作用活性。实验数据与基于 PE（单羧酸和二羧酸）聚合物降解产物的电离校正脂质体/水分配比 (D) 的预测效应浓度一致，表明风化 PE 的浸出物主要是基线毒性。本研究深入了解了不同来源的经紫外线风化的微塑料浸出物对藻类的毒性，补充了当前以颗粒与化学物质为重点的塑料及其浸出物毒性研究。
