Biogeochemistry Group, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1065 Military Trail, Toronto, ON M1C1A4, Canada.
Biogeochemistry Group, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1065 Military Trail, Toronto, ON M1C1A4, Canada.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 25;849:157852. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157852. Epub 2022 Aug 6.
The rise in the global production of plastics has led to severe concerns about the impacts of plastics in aquatic environments. Although plastic materials degrade over extreme long periods, they can be broken down through physical, chemical, and/or biological processes to form microplastics (MPs), defined here as particles between 1 μm and 5 mm in size, and later to form nanoplastics (NPls), defined as particles <1 μm in size. We know little about the abundance and effects of NPls, even though a lot of research has been conducted on the ecotoxicological impacts of MPs on both aquatic biota. Nevertheless, there is evidence that NPls can both bypass the cell membranes of microorganisms and bioaccumulate in the tissues and organs of higher organisms. This review analyzes 150 publications collected by searching through the databases Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar using keywords such as nanoplastics*, aquatic*, detection*, toxic*, biofilm*, formation*, and extracellular polymeric substance* as singular or plural combinations. We highlight and critically synthesize current studies on the formation and degradation of NPls, NPls' interactions with aquatic biota and biofilm communities, and methods of detection. One reason for the missing data and studies in this area of research is the lack of a protocol for the detection of, and suitable methods for the characterization of, NPls in the field. Our primary aim is to identify gaps in knowledge throughout the review and define future directions of research to address the impacts of NPls in aquatic environments. The development of consistent and standardized sets of procedures would address the gaps in knowledge regarding the formation and degradation of NPls as well as sampling and characterizing natural NPls needed to observe the full extent of NPls on aquatic biota and biofilm communities.
全球塑料产量的增加导致人们对塑料在水生环境中的影响产生了严重的担忧。尽管塑料材料在极端长的时间内降解，但它们可以通过物理、化学和/或生物过程分解成微塑料（MPs），这里定义为大小在 1 μm 到 5 mm 之间的颗粒，然后进一步分解成纳米塑料（NPls），定义为大小小于 1 μm 的颗粒。尽管已经有很多研究探讨了 MPs 对水生生物区系的生态毒理学影响，但我们对 NPls 的丰度和影响知之甚少。然而，有证据表明，NPls 既能绕过微生物的细胞膜，又能在高等生物的组织和器官中积累。本综述分析了通过在 Web of Science、SCOPUS 和 Google Scholar 数据库中搜索关键词，如 nanoplastics*、aquatic*、detection*、toxic*、biofilm*、formation* 和 extracellular polymeric substance* 的组合，收集到的 150 篇文献。我们重点介绍并批判性地综合了目前关于 NPls 的形成和降解、NPls 与水生生物区系和生物膜群落的相互作用以及检测方法的研究。该研究领域数据和研究缺失的一个原因是缺乏用于检测 NPls 和对其进行特征描述的合适方法。我们的主要目的是在综述中确定知识空白，并确定未来的研究方向，以解决 NPls 在水生环境中的影响。制定一致和标准化的程序集将有助于解决有关 NPls 的形成和降解、采样和表征天然 NPls 的知识空白，这些都是观察 NPls 对水生生物区系和生物膜群落的全部影响所必需的。
