Rodrigues S M, Espincho F, Elliott M, Almeida C Marisa R, Ramos S
Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), University of Porto, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S/N, Matosinhos 4450-208, Portugal.
Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira no 228, Porto 4050-313, Portugal.
MethodsX. 2023 Oct 28;11:102466. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2023.102466. eCollection 2023 Dec.
Two of the groups most impacted by microplastics (MPs) are zooplankton and fish larvae, either through MPs ingestion or absorption. Although there has been an increase of studies focusing on MPs ingestion by these organisms, there is still no standardized methodology for the quantification of MPs present in plankton. For example, some reagents normally used to digest plankton and recover MPs appear adversely to affect some plastic characteristics. This can potentially lead to underestimating the amount and types of MPs present in the organisms analyzed. Hence, this work aimed to optimize a methodology to quantify MPs present in plankton, namely zooplankton and fish larvae, and ensuring MPs integrity. Hence, the planktonic organism tissues were digested using 30% (v/v) HO solution at different temperatures and incubation periods while preserving the integrity and polymer characteristics of 13 types of MPs. MPs' characteristics were register before and after the tests, by visual inspection and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, to evaluate the integrity and features of MPs. With this methodology, MPs recovery was above 85% for all types of plastic tested. The proposed methodology is a rapid protocol, with a maximum of 7 h of incubation, that ensures simultaneously the full digestion of the organism tissues and the complete preservation of all the plastic characteristics, namely color, size and polymer type.•A methodology was optimized to quantify microplastics present in zooplankton (copepods, chaetognaths and fish larvae).•Thirteen types of microplastics (fibers and fragments of different polymers) were used to test the efficiency of the methodology ensuring the maintenance of the integrity of plastics.•With this methodology, microplastic recovery was above 85% for all the types of microplastic tested and no changes in their characteristics were observed.
受微塑料（MPs）影响最大的两类生物是浮游动物和鱼类幼虫，其影响途径为MPs的摄入或吸收。尽管关注这些生物摄入MPs的研究有所增加，但目前仍没有用于定量浮游生物中MPs的标准化方法。例如，一些通常用于消化浮游生物并回收MPs的试剂似乎会对某些塑料特性产生不利影响。这可能会导致低估所分析生物体内MPs的数量和种类。因此，这项工作旨在优化一种方法，用于定量浮游生物（即浮游动物和鱼类幼虫）中的MPs，并确保MPs的完整性。因此，在不同温度和孵育时间下，使用30%（v/v）的过氧化氢溶液消化浮游生物组织，同时保留13种MPs的完整性和聚合物特性。通过目视检查和傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）分析，在测试前后记录MPs的特性，以评估MPs的完整性和特征。采用这种方法，所有测试的塑料类型的MPs回收率均高于85%。所提出的方法是一种快速方案，孵育时间最长为7小时，可同时确保生物组织的完全消化以及所有塑料特性（即颜色、尺寸和聚合物类型）的完全保留。
•优化了一种方法来定量浮游动物（桡足类、毛颚类和鱼类幼虫）中的微塑料。
•使用13种微塑料（不同聚合物的纤维和碎片）来测试该方法的效率，确保塑料完整性得以维持。
•采用这种方法，所有测试的微塑料类型的微塑料回收率均高于85%，且未观察到其特性发生变化。
