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Zhang X, Xia M, Su X, Yuan P, Li X, Zhou C, Wan Z, Zou W. Photolytic degradation elevated the toxicity of polylactic acid microplastics to developing zebrafish by triggering mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2021; 413:125321. [PMID: 33582471 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Biodegradable plastics (BPs), as alternatives to conventional plastics, are increasingly consumed, but pose potential threats to aquatic ecosystems. In addition, the impact of natural aging on the toxicity of BPs is poorly understood. In this study, the photodegradation of polylactic acid (PLA, a typical BP) microplastics (MPs) under ultraviolet irradiation in water for 90 days was investigated, and the toxicities of virgin and degraded PLA to infantile zebrafish were compared. The results revealed that the size of MPs was reduced from ~25.56 to ~11.22 µm after degradation and nanoparticles were generated with a maximum yield of 7.13%. The formation of abundant oxygen-containing groups (i.e. C˭O and C-O-C) improved the hydrophilia and stability of MPs. Compared with pristine PLA, the efflux and detoxification of degraded PLA mediated by ABC transporters and P450 enzymes were slower, leading to higher bioaccumulation and skeletal development inhibition of zebrafish. Further, oxidative stress-triggered mitochondrial structural damage, depolarization, fission inhibition, and apoptosis were identified as crucial mechanisms underlying the elevated toxicity of PLA after degradation. These findings highlight the importance and necessity of considering natural degradation of BPs and related toxicity, which poses great implications for risk assessment and management of BPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingli Zhang
- School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory on Key Techniques in Water Treatment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China.
| | - Mengli Xia
- School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory on Key Techniques in Water Treatment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
| | - Xiaojuan Su
- School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory on Key Techniques in Water Treatment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
| | - Peng Yuan
- Henan International Collaborative Laboratory for Health Effects and Intervention of Air Pollution, School of Public Health, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China
| | - Xiaokang Li
- School of Environmental and Material Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China
| | - Chunyu Zhou
- School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory on Key Techniques in Water Treatment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
| | - Zepeng Wan
- School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory on Key Techniques in Water Treatment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
| | - Wei Zou
- School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, International Joint Laboratory on Key Techniques in Water Treatment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China.
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Arp HPH, Kühnel D, Rummel C, MacLeod M, Potthoff A, Reichelt S, Rojo-Nieto E, Schmitt-Jansen M, Sonnenberg J, Toorman E, Jahnke A. Weathering Plastics as a Planetary Boundary Threat: Exposure, Fate, and Hazards. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2021; 55:7246-7255. [PMID: 33973471 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c01512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 109] [Impact Index Per Article: 36.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
We described in 2017 how weathering plastic litter in the marine environment fulfils two of three criteria to impose a planetary boundary threat related to "chemical pollution and the release of novel entities": (1) planetary-scale exposure, which (2) is not readily reversible. Whether marine plastics meet the third criterion, (3) eliciting a disruptive impact on vital earth system processes, was uncertain. Since then, several important discoveries have been made to motivate a re-evaluation. A key issue is if weathering macroplastics, microplastics, nanoplastics, and their leachates have an inherently higher potential to elicit adverse effects than natural particles of the same size. We summarize novel findings related to weathering plastic in the context of the planetary boundary threat criteria that demonstrate (1) increasing exposure, (2) fate processes leading to poorly reversible pollution, and (3) (eco)toxicological hazards and their thresholds. We provide evidence that the third criterion could be fulfilled for weathering plastics in sensitive environments and therefore conclude that weathering plastics pose a planetary boundary threat. We suggest future research priorities to better understand (eco)toxicological hazards modulated by increasing exposure and continuous weathering processes, to better parametrize the planetary boundary threshold for plastic pollution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Peter H Arp
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, NO-0806 Oslo, Norway
- Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), P.O. Box 8900, NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Dana Kühnel
- Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, DE-04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christoph Rummel
- Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, DE-04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Matthew MacLeod
- Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Annegret Potthoff
- Department of Characterization, Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), DE-01277 Dresden, Germany
| | - Sophia Reichelt
- Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Elisa Rojo-Nieto
- Department of Ecological Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, DE-04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen
- Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, DE-04107 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Johanna Sonnenberg
- Department of Characterization, Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), DE-01277 Dresden, Germany
| | - Erik Toorman
- Hydraulics & Geotechnics Section, Department of Civil Engineering, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 40, Box 2448, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
| | - Annika Jahnke
- Department of Ecological Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, DE-04107 Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, DE-52074 Aachen, Germany
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Liu P, Shi Y, Wu X, Wang H, Huang H, Guo X, Gao S. Review of the artificially-accelerated aging technology and ecological risk of microplastics. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 768:144969. [PMID: 33736298 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.144969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Revised: 01/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/02/2021] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
After being discarded into the environment, the microplastics (MPs) will undergo weathering effects. However, the low degradation rate of MPs in natural processes greatly limits the understanding of long-term aging behavior. By critically reviewing 82 articles in Web of Science from 2015 to 2020, the paper summarized different laboratory technologies including light irradiation, chemical oxidation, heat treatment and γ-ray irradiation to simulate and accelerate the aging of MPs, and evaluated the feasibility by comparison with natural processes. The advantages of laboratory technologies are that aging conditions can be artificially controlled and that the labor and time costs can be saved, whereas the laboratory system is too simple to simulate complex aging processes in the environment. We further reviewed the potential impacts of aging process on the risks of MPs (i.e. physical injury, combined toxicity with external pollutants and chemical risk of additives and low-molecular products). The overall risks are seemingly enhanced by aging process due to the high ingestion by organisms, the strong interaction with pollutants and the release of MP-derived organic compounds. Further studies on the aging behavior of MPs should be focused on the laboratory techniques that can simulate multiple processes of natural aging, the long-term fragmentation behavior of MPs, the effect of aging on growth rate of biofilm in MPs and ingestion property by organisms, and the relationship between aging property of MPs and release rate of chemicals in leachates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng Liu
- College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China; Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-Environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Yanqi Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Xiaowei Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Hanyu Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Hexinyue Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Xuetao Guo
- College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China; Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-Environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
| | - Shixiang Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
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