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Effects of waterborne exposure to varying concentrations of micro- and nano-plastics on liver and intestinal histology, antioxidant systems, and intestinal microbiota in Qihe River crucian carp (Carassius auratus)
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Scientists exposed farmed carp to microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics in water, finding both damaged the fish's gut and liver, disrupted digestion and gut bacteria, and slowed growth, with the tinier nanoplastics causing more harm. Since these fish are a food source, this raises questions about how widespread plastic pollution in waterways could affect the health and quality of fish we eat.
The Qihe River crucian carp (Carassius auratus) is an economically important freshwater germplasm resource endemic to Henan Province, China, where inland aquaculture is increasingly challenged by microplastic contamination. To assess the ecotoxicological risks of micro(nano)plastics in this regional species, a 28-d chronic exposure experiment was conducted to compare the biological effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) and polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs) at two concentration levels (50 and 500 µg/L), with a specific focus on growth performance, tissue histopathological characteristics, digestive and antioxidant enzyme activities, expression of immune-related genes, and intestinal microbiome composition. The results demonstrated that micro(nano)plastic exposure significantly reduced weight gain rate (WGR) and specific growth rate (SGR), induced intestinal villus shortening, splitting, and epithelial shedding, and caused hepatocyte vacuolization and hepatic sinusoid dilation. Intestinal α-amylase (AMS), trypsin, and lipase activities, as well as hepatic total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), malondialdehyde (MDA), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities, were significantly altered in a concentration-dependent manner after exposure. Furthermore, in the liver, the expression of the immune-related genes such as tumor necrosis factor α (tnf-α), interferon γ (ifn-γ), interleukin 8 (il-8), and interleukin 6 (il-6) also responded in a size- and concentration-dependent manner. In the exploratory microbiota analysis, plastic exposure decreased community evenness and reshaped taxonomic composition, characterized by reduced potentially beneficial taxa and enriched stress-associated or opportunistic taxa. Overall, PS-NPs produced stronger adverse effects than PS-MPs under the same nominal exposure level. These results provide species-specific evidence that waterborne plastic particles can impair gut and liver health, antioxidant balance, and intestinal microbial homeostasis in Qihe River crucian carp, and support a size-dependent hazard assessment for micro- and nano-plastics in freshwater aquaculture.
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