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Effects of Photoaged Polyethylene Microplastics on Cardiac Injury and Fibrosis-like Remodeling in Zebrafish
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Researchers exposed adult zebrafish to polyethylene microplastics, some of which were artificially weathered using UV light to mimic environmental aging. Both plastic types caused heart damage, including oxidative stress and tissue changes resembling scarring, with weathered microplastics causing more severe effects in some, but not all, measurements.
Polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs) undergo photoaging under environmental ultraviolet irradiation, which may alter their surface morphology, chemical properties, and biological toxicity. This study used adult zebrafish to compare cardiac injury induced by pristine and photoaged PE-MPs. Changes in particle physicochemical properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Cardiotoxicity was evaluated using organismal phenotypes, cardiac oxidative stress, histopathology, collagen deposition, and related gene expression. Photoaging increased surface roughness, pores, cracks, and oxidation, confirming marked changes in particle structure and chemistry. High-concentration PE-MP exposure inhibited growth. All exposure groups showed decreased cardiac antioxidant enzyme activities and increased lipid peroxidation, with more pronounced oxidative injury in the high-concentration photoaged group. This group also exhibited abnormal myocardial structural disorganization, inflammatory cell infiltration, and fibrosis-like changes. Genes involved in inflammation, profibrotic transcription, and extracellular matrix remodeling were also altered. Overall, PE-MPs induced cardiac oxidative injury, structural abnormalities, and changes associated with collagen remodeling in adult zebrafish, with the combined findings being consistent with fibrosis-like remodeling. Photoaging selectively enhanced some cardiac endpoints, but this effect was not consistently observed across all measured indicators. These findings indicate that environmental aging can modify the cardiotoxicity of PE-MPs and provide experimental evidence for assessing the potential cardiovascular hazards and identifying aging-related changes in toxicity of aged microplastics.
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Zebrafish embryos exposed to plastic nanoparticles (polystyrene) that had been artificially aged by UV light showed more heart defects, faster heart rates, and disrupted heart development than those exposed to unaged particles. Aged particles also caused greater damage to mitochondria, the cell structures that produce energy, which may help explain the stronger effects.
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Freshwater fish exposed to polyethylene microplastics for 15 days showed increased oxidative stress in both liver and muscle tissue, with aged, UV-weathered microplastics causing more damage than new ones. The weathering process changed the plastic surface in ways that made the particles more chemically reactive and potentially more harmful. This matters because microplastics in the environment are typically aged, meaning lab studies using only pristine particles may underestimate real-world toxicity.
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Researchers compared the cardiovascular toxicity of polystyrene and polyethylene microplastics in zebrafish larvae, examining effects on heart development, oxidative stress, and cell death. Both types of microplastics caused cardiovascular damage, but they operated through different molecular mechanisms, with polystyrene primarily triggering oxidative stress while polyethylene more strongly induced cell death pathways. The findings indicate that the chemical composition of microplastics matters significantly when assessing their health effects.
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Zebrafish embryos exposed to UV-aged polystyrene microplastics at environmental concentrations showed more severe developmental problems than those exposed to fresh microplastics. The aged particles caused greater oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage, triggering increased cell death during early development -- suggesting that weathered microplastics in the real environment may be more harmful than the pristine particles typically used in lab studies.
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