Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Via Vivaldi 43, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
Chemosphere. 2022 Jul;299:134373. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134373. Epub 2022 Mar 18.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is leading to an increase of the global production of plastics since the use of personal protective equipment (PPEs, i.e. gloves, gowns, masks, packaging items), has become mandatory to prevent the spread of the virus. Plastic breaks down into micro/nano particles due to physical or chemical or biological actions into environment. Due to small dimensions, ubiquitous and persistent nature, the plastic particles represent a significant threat to ecosystems and can entry into food chains. Among the plastic polymers used for PPEs, polystyrene is less studied regarding its eco-geno-toxicity. This study aims to investigate acute, chronic and subchronic effects of the microplastic polystyrene beads (PS-MP, size 1.0 μm) on three freshwater species, the alga Raphidocelis subcapitata, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, the crustacean Ceriodaphnia dubia and the benthic ostracod Heterocypris incongruens. Furthermore, the potential genotoxicity and the ROS production due to the PS-MP were also determined in C. dubia. Results revealed that the acute effects occurred at concentrations of PS-MP in the order of dozens of mg/L in B. calyciflorus and C. dubia and hundreds of mg/L in H. incongruens. Regarding long-term toxicity, increasing chronic effects with EC50s in the order of units (C. dubia), hundreds (B. calyciflorus) and thousands (R. subcapitata) of μg/L were observed. Both for acute and chronic/sub chronic toxicity, daphnids were more sensitive to polystyrene than ostracods. Moreover, when C. dubia neonates were exposed to the PS-MP, alterations in genetic material as well as the production of ROS occurred, starting from concentrations in the order of units of μg/L, probably due to inflammatory responses. At last, the risk quotient (RQ) as a measure of risk posed by PS-MPs in freshwater environment, was calculated obtaining a value of 7.2, higher than the threshold value of 1.
由于个人防护设备（即手套、长袍、口罩、包装物品）的使用已成为防止病毒传播的强制性措施，因此，当前的 COVID-19 大流行正导致塑料的全球产量增加。由于物理、化学或生物作用，塑料会分解成微/纳米颗粒并进入环境。由于尺寸小、无处不在且持久，塑料颗粒对生态系统构成了重大威胁，并可能进入食物链。在用于个人防护设备的塑料聚合物中，聚苯乙烯在其生态基因毒性方面的研究较少。本研究旨在调查微塑料聚苯乙烯珠（PS-MP，粒径 1.0 μm）对三种淡水物种，即藻类莱茵衣藻、轮虫褶皱臂尾轮虫、甲壳类溞属和底栖介形类霍氏异尾轮虫的急性、慢性和亚慢性影响。此外，还在溞属中确定了 PS-MP 的潜在遗传毒性和 ROS 产生。结果表明，在轮虫和溞属中，PS-MP 的急性影响发生在几十毫克/升的浓度范围内，而在异尾轮属中则发生在几百毫克/升的浓度范围内。关于长期毒性，随着 EC50 以单位（溞属）、数百（轮虫）和数千（莱茵衣藻）微克/升的顺序增加，慢性毒性逐渐增加。对于急性和慢性/亚慢性毒性，枝角类对聚苯乙烯的敏感性都高于介形类。此外，当溞属的幼体暴露于 PS-MP 时，会发生遗传物质的改变以及 ROS 的产生，这一过程从单位微克/升的浓度开始，可能是由于炎症反应所致。最后，作为衡量 PS-MP 在淡水环境中造成风险的指标，风险商（RQ）计算得到 7.2，高于 1 的阈值。
