Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China.
Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Information Processing and Intelligent Control, College of Computer and Control Engineering, Minjiang University, Fuzhou, 350121, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 15;864:161155. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161155. Epub 2022 Dec 23.
Ingesting microplastics (MPs) from plastic tableware is an important source of health risk to human bodies. However, the comprehensive information of MPs released from disposable tableware has not been explored. Herein, a new visual quantification method for polystyrene MPs is proposed with carbon nitride fluorescent polymers staining, which can overcome the disadvantages of high signal background and photobleaching derived from organic dyes staining. Combining with fluorescence microscope and ImageJ software, the quantity, shape, and size distribution of MPs carried by the brand-new disposable polystyrene tableware (DPT) samples before usage and released from the clean DPT samples in different simulated usage scenes were studied. The brand-new DPT samples were found to carry a large number of MPs particles and the clean DPT samples could release MPs during usage. Fiber and fragment are the main morphology of the detected MPs and fiber accounts for 45-52 %. The particles with size <50 μm are the majority of the detected MPs and the distribution fraction of MPs particles is gradually decreased with the raising of particle size within 50 μm. The released MPs particles are increased with the raising of contact time and temperature, and greatly boosted for the DPT samples with cracks. The DPT samples are more like to release MPs in weak acidic condition (pH 4.0) than in weak alkaline (pH 8.3) and neutral (pH 7.0) conditions. The obtained results help to assess the food safety of tack-out food and the health risk of MPs exposure to human.
从塑料餐具中摄入微塑料（MPs）是对人体健康造成风险的一个重要来源。然而，从一次性餐具中释放的 MPs 的综合信息尚未被探索。在此，我们提出了一种新的聚苯乙烯 MPs 的可视化定量方法，使用氮化碳荧光聚合物进行染色，可以克服有机染料染色所带来的高信号背景和光漂白的缺点。结合荧光显微镜和 ImageJ 软件，研究了全新的一次性聚苯乙烯餐具（DPT）样品在使用前以及在不同模拟使用场景下从清洁的 DPT 样品中释放的 MPs 的数量、形状和尺寸分布。全新的 DPT 样品携带大量的 MPs 颗粒，而清洁的 DPT 样品在使用过程中会释放 MPs。检测到的 MPs 的主要形态为纤维和碎片，纤维占 45-52%。检测到的 MPs 中，粒径<50μm 的颗粒占多数，且粒径在 50μm 内的 MPs 颗粒的分布分数随着粒径的增大逐渐减小。随着接触时间和温度的升高，释放的 MPs 颗粒会增加，而有裂缝的 DPT 样品释放的 MPs 颗粒则会大幅增加。在弱酸性条件（pH 4.0）下，DPT 样品比在弱碱性（pH 8.3）和中性（pH 7.0）条件下更易释放 MPs。研究结果有助于评估外带食品的食品安全和人体接触 MPs 所带来的健康风险。
