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Fibrous Microplastics as an Independent Risk Factor: Bioaccumulation, Gut– Liver Translocation, and Trophic Biomagnification in Marine Food WebsMarine Trophic Chains
Summary
Scientists found that fiber-shaped microplastics (tiny plastic pieces) build up in marine animals' bodies much more than other plastic shapes, moving from the gut to the liver and causing inflammation and metabolic problems. These fibers also become more concentrated as they move up the food chain from small sea creatures to fish. This matters because humans eat seafood, and these fiber-shaped plastics appear to be more harmful to living organisms than other types of microplastics.
Fibrous microplastics dominate marine debris yet remain understudied compared with spherical and fragmented forms. Their high aspect ratio (10–50) confers unique mechanical flexibility and surface reactivity. In controlled exposure experiments (10–1,000 μg L⁻¹; 7–60 days), fish and bivalves retained fibers in intestinal villi with a bioaccumulation factor of 3.8 ± 0.4, three to four times higher than other morphologies. Micro-FTIR imaging tracked fibers crossing the intestinal epithelium and localizing in hepatic lobules, indicating a novel “gut–liver” pathway. At environmentally relevant concentrations (10 μg L⁻¹, 60 days), fibers disrupted eight energy metabolism pathways, doubled superoxide dismutase activity, and tripled tumor necrosis factor-α expression, suggesting chronic metabolic and inflammatory stress. In a threelevel food web experiment (algae → shrimp → fish), fibers exhibited significant biomagnification (BMF = 1.75 ± 0.12), unlike spheres or fragments (BMF < 1.0). These findings demonstrate that morphology is an independent determinant of microplastic risk, beyond size and concentration.