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Polystyrene Microplastics Elevate Blood Glucose and Aggressive Behavior in Siamese Fighting Fish
Summary
Fighting fish exposed to higher levels of microplastics in their water showed spiked blood sugar and became noticeably more aggressive—and the two effects were closely linked. While this study was done in fish, not people, it adds to growing evidence that microplastics can mess with the body's stress and metabolic systems, which is worth paying attention to given how much plastic waste ends up in our water supplies.
This study evaluated the sublethal physiological and behavioral responses of Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) to waterborne polystyrene microplastic exposure during a 45-day rearing trial.A completely randomized design with four treatments and three replicates was used: 0, 50, 100, and 150 mg/L.Fish were reared individually, and the principal endpoints were blood glucose and aggression index.Blood glucose was measured at the end of the trial using a portable glucometer, whereas aggressive behavior was quantified as the number of aggressive acts per minute during a standardized 3-minute visual challenge.Data was analyzed using oneway ANOVA followed by Tukey's test, and the relationship between blood glucose and aggression was further examined using Pearson correlation based on individual observations.Blood glucose differed significantly among treatments (F = 39.116;p < 0.001) and increased from 87.3 ± 6.81 mg/dL in the control to 148.3 ± 10.41 mg/dL at 150 mg/L.Aggressive behavior also differed significantly (F = 6.820; p = 0.014), increasing from 6.0 ± 1.00 to 14.0 ± 1.00 events min-1 over the same concentration range.Individual-level re-analysis indicated a strong positive correlation between blood glucose and aggression (r = 0.795; p = 0.002).Taken together, these findings indicate that polystyrene microplastic exposure induced clear metabolic and behavioral responses in B. splendens and support the use of blood glucose and aggressive behavior as complementary sublethal biomarkers in ornamental-fish microplastic studies.