Wang Ying, Baynes Alice, Renner Kofi O, Zhang Mingxing, Scrimshaw Mark D, Routledge Edwin J
Key Laboratory for Ecological Environment in Coastal Areas, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, 42 Linghe Street, Dalian 116023, China.
Institute of Environment, Health and Societies, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK.
Toxics. 2022 Feb 14;10(2):87. doi: 10.3390/toxics10020087.
The presence of plastic cosmetic microbeads in the environment due to their extensive use in society and inevitable dispersal into wastewater is concerning. Therefore, it is vital to understand the processes of microplastic uptake and elimination by aquatic organisms, and to further assess their potential to cause harmful effects and wider impacts. We therefore investigated the short-term (48-h) and long-term (21-d) uptake, elimination, and effects of exposure to polyethylene microbeads (a mixture of fragments and spheres extracted from commercially available facial scrubs) on the freshwater snail, . We found fast uptake in the short-term (75 μg/g/h) and the long-term (6.94 μg/g/h) in exposed to 800 particles/200-mL and 80 particles/200-mL, respectively. Irregular fragments were more easily ingested and egested compared to spheres (ANOVA, < 0.05) in both 48-h and 21-d exposures. The mean size of the fragments in tissues (413 ± 16 μm) after 48-h exposure was significantly larger than that of the standard sample (369 ± 26 μm) (ANOVA, = 3.339, = 0.033), suggesting that aggregation in the gut may occur. Floating feces containing microbeads were observed in the long-term exposure, which could alter the fate, behavior, and bioavailability of egested microbeads. No significant effects on survival and growth were shown within 48-h or 21-d exposure periods. Thus, further studies on the specific features of microplastics (e.g., their shape and size) influencing uptake and elimination, as well as toxic molecular mechanisms, should be explored in future ecotoxicological studies.
由于塑料化妆品微珠在社会中的广泛使用以及不可避免地扩散到废水中，其在环境中的存在令人担忧。因此，了解水生生物摄取和消除微塑料的过程，并进一步评估它们造成有害影响和更广泛影响的可能性至关重要。因此，我们研究了聚乙烯微珠（从市售面部磨砂膏中提取的碎片和球体的混合物）对淡水蜗牛的短期（48小时）和长期（21天）摄取、消除及暴露影响。我们发现，分别暴露于800个颗粒/200毫升和80个颗粒/200毫升的情况下，短期（75微克/克/小时）和长期（6.94微克/克/小时）摄取速度都很快。在48小时和21天的暴露实验中，与球体相比，不规则碎片更容易被摄取和排出（方差分析，P<0.05）。48小时暴露后蜗牛组织中碎片的平均尺寸（413±16微米）明显大于标准样品（369±26微米）（方差分析，F = 3.339，P = 0.033），这表明肠道中可能发生了聚集。在长期暴露中观察到含有微珠的漂浮粪便，这可能会改变排出微珠的归宿、行为和生物利用度。在48小时或21天的暴露期内，未显示对生存和生长有显著影响。因此，未来的生态毒理学研究应探索影响摄取和消除的微塑料特定特征（如形状和大小）以及毒性分子机制。
