School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, China.
Engineering Research Center of Seawater Utilization of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China.
Aquat Toxicol. 2022 Nov;252:106317. doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2022.106317. Epub 2022 Sep 29.
Emerging pollutants, such as microplastics (MPs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) may pose a serious threat to human health and ecological safety. However, little is known about the MP-mediated PBDEs exposures and their combined toxicities towards farmed fishes. This study investigated the sorption behaviors of two typical PBDEs (BDE-47 and BDE-209) to MPs of different polymer types (PE, PS, PHA and PHB), and examined their combined toxic effects on grouper (Epinephelus moara) by determining the change of oxidative stress markers and comparing gene expression difference through high-throughput sequencing. Our results demonstrated that the sorption of PBDEs on MPs were polymer type-dependent and the sorption capacities were in the order of PHA>PHB>PS>PE. The combined exposures of MPs and PBDEs led to more severe disturbance on the oxidative system compared with individual exposure. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the content of glutathione were decreased, while the activity of catalase (CAT) and the content of malondialdehyde were increased. The disorder of oxidative system can influence the growth of groupers. High-throughput sequencing confirmed that pathways of ferroptosis, IL-17 and PPAR expressed differently under combined exposure of MPs and BDE-47. IL-17 pathway related genes were inhibited, while genes in PPAR pathway were upregulated. The combined exposure brought more severe effect on grouper's gene expression compared with individual exposure. GPX-related genes and CAT gene in the liver were up-regulated, while SOD-related genes were down-regulated. Our results demonstrated that the combined toxicity of MPs and PBDEs can pose a non-neglectable threat to aquaculture development and food safety, and gained a primary insight into the potential risk of MPs to farmed fishes.
新兴污染物，如微塑料（MPs）和多溴二苯醚（PBDEs），可能对人类健康和生态安全构成严重威胁。然而，人们对 MP 介导的 PBDEs 暴露及其对养殖鱼类的联合毒性知之甚少。本研究调查了两种典型的 PBDEs（BDE-47 和 BDE-209）对不同聚合物类型（PE、PS、PHA 和 PHB）MPs 的吸附行为，并通过测定氧化应激标志物的变化和通过高通量测序比较基因表达差异，研究了它们对石斑鱼（Epinephelus moara）的联合毒性作用。我们的结果表明，PBDEs 在 MPs 上的吸附与聚合物类型有关，吸附能力的顺序为 PHA>PHB>PS>PE。与单独暴露相比，MPs 和 PBDEs 的联合暴露导致氧化系统受到更严重的干扰。超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）的活性和谷胱甘肽的含量降低，而过氧化氢酶（CAT）的活性和丙二醛的含量增加。氧化系统的紊乱会影响石斑鱼的生长。高通量测序证实，在 MPs 和 BDE-47 的联合暴露下，铁死亡、IL-17 和 PPAR 途径的表达不同。IL-17 途径相关基因受到抑制，而 PPAR 途径中的基因被上调。与单独暴露相比，MPs 和 BDE-47 的联合暴露对石斑鱼的基因表达产生了更严重的影响。肝脏中与 GPX 相关的基因和 CAT 基因上调，而 SOD 相关基因下调。我们的研究结果表明，MPs 和 PBDEs 的联合毒性可能对水产养殖发展和食品安全构成不可忽视的威胁，并初步了解了 MPs 对养殖鱼类的潜在风险。
