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Toxicity assessment of DMSO extracts of environmental aged beached plastics using human cell lines
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Researchers tested chemicals extracted from naturally aged beach plastics on human intestinal and liver cells in the lab and found they caused cell damage, oxidative stress, and DNA damage. Some plastic extracts also showed estrogen-like hormonal activity, which could disrupt the body's endocrine system. This study suggests that chemicals leaching from weathered microplastics in seafood could pose real risks to human health.
Plastic products contain complex mixtures of chemical compounds that are incorporated into polymers to improve material properties. Besides the intentional chemical additives, other compounds including residual monomers and non-intentionnaly added substances (NIAS) as well as sorbed pollutants are usually also present in aged plastic. Since most of these substances are only loosely bound to the polymer via non-covalently interactions, i.e., van der Waals forces, they may leach to the surrounding environment. Although there is increasing knowledge about toxicity of weathered plastic to aquatic organisms, only little is known about how plastic associated chemicals affect human health. Seafood consumption is one of the routes of human exposure to microplastics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of naturally aged plastic associated chemicals to induce harmful effects to human health via the consumption of MP-contaminated seafood. Human colorectal adenocarcinoma Caco-2 and human hepatocyte carcinoma HepG2 cells were selected as model of the colon and liver cells respectively. They are known for their high capacity to metabolize organic contaminants. Both cell lines were exposed to DMSO extracts of different plastics to investigate the effects of chemicals on cell viability, oxidative stress induction and genotoxicity. In addition, the estrogenic effects of DMSO-extracts were evaluated using an estrogen-dependent reporter gene assay in T47D-Kbluc human breast cancer cells. Chemical profiles of the DMSO extracts were polymer-dependent, with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) highly contaminated with metals while polypropylene (PP) contained the lowest concentration of metals. Organic pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were mainly found in PVC, high density polyethylene (HDPE) and PP extracts, whereas other extracted plastics had less (PP) to no organic contamination (polyethylene terephthalate PET). PVC was the most toxic plastic inducing cytotoxicity for both cell lines. DNA damage was observed for Caco-2 cells exposure to HDPE, PVC and nylon. Reactive oxygen species were induced only with nylon extracts in intestinal cells. No toxicity was observed for PP and PET and none of the tested plastics had any estrogenic effect. Our results demonstrate that some environmental aged plastic material released a variety of known and unknown chemical compounds some of which are toxic in vitro and contribute to the knowledge on adverse human health effects of plastics.
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Effects of Leachates from UV-Weathered Microplastic in Cell-Based Bioassays
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Chemicals were leached from UV-weathered polyethylene, PET, polypropylene, and polystyrene into artificial seawater, concentrated, and tested in cell-based bioassays for cytotoxicity, AhR/PPARγ activation, estrogenic activity, and other endpoints. UV weathering significantly increased the leaching of bioactive compounds, demonstrating that aged microplastics release more toxic chemicals than pristine plastics.
Comparative multi-biomarker hazard assessment of weathered environmental microplastics and their DMSO-extractable leachates in Mytilus galloprovincialis.
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Mussels were exposed in the lab to weathered microplastics collected from a Moroccan beach, along with chemicals extracted from those particles. Both caused cell damage, but the extracted chemicals caused stronger DNA damage and changes in gene activity than the plastic particles themselves, varying by plastic type.
Leaching of endocrine disrupting chemicals from marine microplastics and mesoplastics under common life stress conditions
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Researchers measured the leaching of endocrine disrupting chemicals from marine microplastics and mesoplastics collected from the field under stress conditions that mimic real-world exposure. They found that bisphenol A was the most frequently detected compound, and that smaller plastic particles released greater quantities of these chemicals per unit mass. The study suggests that microplastics in the marine environment act as sources of hormone-disrupting substances that could affect wildlife and potentially human health.
Comparative toxicity of beach mesoplastics from South Spain: An in vitro approach
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Researchers collected mesoplastic debris from five beaches in southern Spain and tested their toxicity on fish liver cells in the laboratory. They found that plastics subjected to simulated sunlight degradation generally released more harmful chemicals and showed greater toxicity, including increased DNA damage and oxidative stress. The study indicates that photodegraded beach plastics may pose a greater risk to marine organisms than intact plastic debris.
Toxicity assessment of pollutants sorbed on microplastics using various bioassays on two fish cell lines
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Researchers collected microplastic samples from ocean expeditions and tested their toxicity using two fish cell lines, finding that cell lines differed in sensitivity and that microplastics with sorbed pollutants were toxic to cells. The results suggest that real-world microplastics carrying accumulated chemical pollutants pose a chemical toxicity risk to marine organisms beyond just the physical effects of ingesting plastic.
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