Ritchie Marshall W, Cheslock Alexandra, Bourdages Madelaine P T, Hamilton Bonnie M, Provencher Jennifer F, Allison Jane E, MacMillan Heath A
Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada.
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada.
Conserv Physiol. 2023 Aug 15;11(1):coad052. doi: 10.1093/conphys/coad052. eCollection 2023.
Plastic pollution is a growing threat to our natural environment. Plastic waste/pollution results from high emissions of both macro (>5 mm) and microplastics (MPs; <5 mm) as well as environmental fractioning of macroplastics into MPs. MPs have been shown to have a range of negative impacts on biota. Harmonized methods to accurately measure and count MPs from animal samples are limited, but what methods exist are not ideal for a controlled laboratory environment where plastic ingestion, degradation and elimination can be quantified and related to molecular, physiological and organismal traits. Here, we propose a complete method for isolating and quantifying fluorescent MPs by combining several previously reported approaches into one comprehensive workflow. We combine tissue dissection, organic material digestion, sample filtering and automated imaging techniques to show how fluorescently labelled MPs provided to insects (e.g. in their diet) in a laboratory setting can be isolated, identified and quantified. As a proof of concept, we fed crickets () a diet of 2.5% (w/w) fluorescently labelled plastics and isolated and quantified plastic particles within the gut and frass.
塑料污染对我们的自然环境构成了日益严重的威胁。塑料废物/污染源于宏观塑料（>5毫米）和微塑料（MPs；<5毫米）的高排放，以及宏观塑料在环境中分解为微塑料。已表明微塑料对生物群有一系列负面影响。准确测量和计数动物样本中微塑料的统一方法有限，而且现有的方法对于能够量化塑料摄入、降解和消除并将其与分子、生理和生物特征相关联的受控实验室环境并不理想。在此，我们提出了一种完整的方法，通过将几种先前报道的方法整合到一个综合工作流程中来分离和量化荧光微塑料。我们结合组织解剖、有机物质消化、样本过滤和自动成像技术，展示了在实验室环境中提供给昆虫（例如在其食物中）的荧光标记微塑料如何被分离、识别和量化。作为概念验证，我们给蟋蟀喂食了含有2.5%（w/w）荧光标记塑料的食物，并在肠道和粪便中分离和量化了塑料颗粒。
