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Effects of N/MPs on aquatic organisms at high altitude in arid areas: Responses of physiological tissues and intestinal microbiome of Triplophysa yarkandensis
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Scientists exposed a fish species from a remote Tibetan Plateau river to tiny plastic particles and found the plastics built up in their gills and gut, damaged their skin, liver and intestines, and disrupted healthy gut bacteria. This matters because it shows even remote, seemingly pristine waters are affected by plastic pollution, raising concerns about what these particles could do inside our own bodies too.
Nanoplastics and microplastics (N/MPs) have become new environmental pollutants that need to be solved globally, and the threat to fragile ecosystems is particularly prominent. The survey shows that there are a wide range of N / MPs contaminated fibers in the typical arid inland river of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau-Tarim River, among which particles are dominant and small-size particles are in the majority, posing a serious threat to its fragile aquatic ecosystem. In this study, Triplophysa yarkandensis , an endangered fish endemic to the plateau in arid areas, was used as the research object. Through ecotoxicological exposure experiments, different particle sizes (80 nm polystyrene nanoplastics [NPs], 1 μm polystyrene microplastics [MPs]) and different concentrations (100 μg/L, 500 μg/L, 1000 μg/L, 5000 μg/L) of N/MPs were exposed for 21 days. Effects on N/MPs enrichment, histopathological characteristics, oxidative stress level and intestinal microbial community. Results revealed time-dependent bioaccumulation, with higher accumulation rates observed within the first 14 days. After 21 days, gill N/MPs accumulation (NPs: 23.10 μg/g; MPs: 12.10 μg/g) was higher than intestine (NPs: 17.90 μg/g; MPs: 9.20 μg/g). High-concentration NPs triggered severe skin lesions; high-concentration MPs induced dominant intestinal injury; all exposure groups exhibited universal liver vacuolar degeneration and gill filament swelling/vacuolization ( P <0.05). All exposure groups significantly elevated ROS, SOD, CAT and intestinal AChE at day 14, while MDA content declined significantly compared with control ( P <0.05); liver SOD displayed obvious concentration-dependent sensitivity.. High-concentration MP group (MH) significantly increased intestinal alpha diversity; Proteobacteria dominated the phylum-level community, while NH/MH groups reduced Proteobacteria abundance and enriched Firmicutes / Bacteroidetes ; genus-level community structure showed particle-size-specific differentiation. This study clarified the particle size-concentration-dependent toxicity mechanism of N/MPs to plateau-specific fish in arid areas, and confirmed that N/MPs can produce toxic effects by inducing oxidative stress, destroying tissue integrity and disturbing intestinal microbial community homeostasis. It provides a scientific basis for the ecological risk assessment of N/MPs in freshwater ecosystems in arid areas of the plateau, and also supplements new experimental evidence for the study of the pollution toxicity of polystyrene plastics to plateau indigenous fish.
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