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Weathering chemistry shapes the gut microbiome-metabolome-transcriptome response of adult zebrafish to aged polyethylene microplastics.
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Researchers aged polyethylene microplastics using different chemical processes (acids, a base, or UV light and water) then fed them to zebrafish. The way the plastic was aged changed its surface damage and led to different effects on gut bacteria, gut chemicals, and gene activity, showing that aged microplastics cannot be treated as one single category.
Microplastics (MPs) in aquatic environments undergo continuous weathering, yet most toxicological studies still rely on pristine commercial particles, leaving biological consequences of distinct aging chemistries poorly resolved. Here, polyethylene (PE) MPs were aged through oxidative and hydrolytic pathways (UV+H₂O, H₂SO₄, HNO₃, and NaOH), characterized by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), and administered to zebrafish to link surface chemistry with the multilayered gut microbiome, metabolome, and host transcriptome responses. Weathering chemistry governed surface oxidation and morphological damage, with strong-acid treatment (H₂SO₄ ≫ HNO₃) causing the most severe fragmentation. These surface differences propagated into chemistry-specific effects: an abundance-driven restructuring of the gut microbiota, including suppression of the core commensal Cetobacterium under alkaline aging and expansion of stress-tolerant environmental taxa; weathering-specific remodeling of the metabolome (NAD⁺/nicotinamide and glycosphingolipid); and low but treatment-specific transcriptional changes (6-13 DEGs per treatment, including a shared ∼800-fold induction of lhfpl5b under NaOH and UV+H₂O). Multi-omics integration resolved into three chemistry-specific cross-omics axes, with the metabolome and transcriptome showing the strongest cross-layer concordance (Procrustes 1-M2 = 0.38, p < 0.01). Weathered MPs from different degradation pathways cannot be aggregated into a single "aged-MP" category, as their hazards are chemistry-specific at every molecular layer.
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Comparison of gut toxicity and microbiome effects in zebrafish exposed to polypropylene microplastics: Interesting effects of UV-weathering on microbiome
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Zebrafish exposed to UV-weathered polypropylene microplastics showed different and sometimes more severe gut damage than those exposed to fresh microplastics, including greater accumulation in the digestive tract and more disruption of gut bacteria. Interestingly, the weathered microplastics enriched certain beneficial gut bacteria while the fresh ones did not. This matters because real-world microplastics are weathered by sunlight, meaning lab studies using only pristine plastics may underestimate actual health risks.
Chronic Exposure of Adult Zebrafish to Polyethylene and Polyester-based Microplastics: Metabolomic and Gut Microbiome Alterations Reflecting Dysbiosis and Resilience
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Researchers exposed adult zebrafish to polyethylene and polyester microplastics at environmentally relevant concentrations and found significant disruptions to metabolic pathways and gut microbiome composition. Polyethylene primarily affected cell membrane compounds and inflammation-related metabolites, while polyester altered lipid metabolism and gut bacterial interactions. The study reveals that chronic microplastic exposure can cause subtle but meaningful shifts in fish metabolism and gut health, even at low concentrations.
Effects of polyethylene microplastics on the microbiome and metabolism in larval zebrafish
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Researchers exposed zebrafish embryos to polyethylene microplastics for seven days and found significant disruptions to their gut bacteria and metabolic function. The microplastics altered the balance of key bacterial groups in the gut, increasing potentially harmful species while decreasing beneficial ones. Metabolic analysis revealed changes in fat, cholesterol, and sugar processing, suggesting that early-life microplastic exposure can disturb both the microbiome and metabolic development in fish.
Influence of ultraviolet-aging and adsorbed pollutants on toxicological effects of polyvinyl chloride microplastics to zebrafish
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Researchers studied how UV aging changes polyvinyl chloride microplastics and their toxicity to zebrafish, both alone and when carrying adsorbed pollutants. They found that aged microplastics caused more severe gut damage and oxidative stress than pristine particles, due to increased free radicals on their surfaces. When carrying adsorbed chlorpyrifos or erythromycin, the microplastics served as pollutant carriers into fish, producing greater behavioral disruption and gut microbiome alterations.
[Biological Effect of Microplastics with Different Functional Groups on the Bacterial Communities and Metabolic Functions of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryos].
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Researchers exposed zebrafish embryos to polystyrene microplastics with different functional groups (neutral, amino, and carboxyl) and found that surface chemistry significantly determines the degree of microplastic accumulation and disruption of gut bacterial communities and metabolic functions.
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