Yu Ziyue, Qiu Donghua, Zhou Tong, Zeng Liqing, Yan Changzhou
Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Department of Public Health and Medical Technology, Xiamen Medical College, Xiamen 361021, China.
Aquat Toxicol. 2024 May;270:106905. doi: 10.1016/j.aquatox.2024.106905. Epub 2024 Mar 27.
The enhanced adsorption of pollutants on biofilm-developed microplastics has been proved in many studies, but the ecotoxicological effects of biofilm-developed microplastics on organisms are still unclear. In this study, adult zebrafish were exposed to original microplastics, biofilm-developed microplastics, original microplastics absorbed with oxytetracycline (OTC), and biofilm-developed microplastics absorbed with OTC for 30 days. The intestinal histological damage, intestinal biomarker response, gut microbiome and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) profile of zebrafish were measured to explore the roles of biofilm in the effects of microplastics. The results showed that biofilm-developed microplastics significantly increased the number of goblet cells in intestinal epithelium compared with the control group. The biofilm-developed microplastics also induced the oxidative response in the zebrafish intestines, and biofilm changed the response mode in the combined treatment with OTC. Additionally, the biofilm-developed microplastics caused intestinal microbiome dysbiosis, and induced the abundance of some pathogenic genera increasing by several times compared with the control group and the original microplastics treatments, regardless of OTC adsorption. Furthermore, the abundance of ARGs in biofilm-developed microplastics increased significantly compared with the control and the original microplastic treatments. This study emphasized the significant influence and unique role of biofilm in microplastic studies.
许多研究已证实生物膜附着的微塑料对污染物的吸附增强，但生物膜附着的微塑料对生物体的生态毒理学效应仍不清楚。在本研究中，将成年斑马鱼暴露于原始微塑料、生物膜附着的微塑料、吸附了土霉素（OTC）的原始微塑料以及吸附了OTC的生物膜附着的微塑料中30天。检测斑马鱼的肠道组织学损伤、肠道生物标志物反应、肠道微生物群和抗生素抗性基因（ARGs）谱，以探讨生物膜在微塑料效应中的作用。结果表明，与对照组相比，生物膜附着的微塑料显著增加了肠道上皮中杯状细胞的数量。生物膜附着的微塑料还诱导了斑马鱼肠道中的氧化反应，并且生物膜改变了与OTC联合处理时的反应模式。此外，无论是否吸附OTC，生物膜附着的微塑料都会导致肠道微生物群失调，并诱导一些致病属的丰度比对照组和原始微塑料处理组增加数倍。此外，与对照组和原始微塑料处理组相比，生物膜附着的微塑料中ARGs的丰度显著增加。本研究强调了生物膜在微塑料研究中的重大影响和独特作用。
