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Pulse exposure to microplastics depolarizes the goldfish gill: Interactive effects of DOC and differential degradation
Summary
This study exposed goldfish to pulse doses of microplastics and measured effects on gill membrane potential, finding that microplastics depolarized gill cells in ways that interacted with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels and varied by particle degradation state. The results suggest gill physiology is sensitive to microplastic exposure even at low doses.
Microplastics (MPs) are constantly degrading while moving through aquatic systems as a result of mechanical abrasion, thermal fluctuations, UV light, and chemical exposure. As such, fish may experience pulse exposures to differentially degraded plastics. This study addresses how pulse exposures, over the course of minutes, to differentially degraded microplastics alters a key ionoregulatory property of the goldfish gill. We used transepithelial potential (TEP) across the gills, a diffusion potential resulting from the differential permeability of cations versus anions, as a sensitive indicator of potential ionoregulatory effects. Virgin (non-degraded) MPs along with mechanically, UV, and thermally degraded plastics immediately depolarized the gills (less negative TEP), whereas chemically degraded MPs resulted in no change to TEP. To further explore the physicochemical interaction between the surface of the gill and MPs, combinations of MPs and a single source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were tested and revealed that the presence of DOC negated the effects of MPs at the gill regardless of whether DOC or MPs were introduced first. This study suggests that while MPs have the ability to cause ionoregulatory effects at the gill, the effects of ambient water quality, specifically the presence of DOC, are of greater influence.