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Recent advances of microplastics toxicity and fate on zebrafish-a review
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This review synthesizes evidence on how micro- and nanoplastics cause developmental, reproductive, gastrointestinal, and oxidative stress toxicity in zebrafish, positioning the species as a valuable vertebrate model for understanding plastic pollutant effects across trophic levels. Zebrafish research is accelerating mechanistic understanding of how microplastics harm vertebrate biology, providing insights relevant to assessing risks for fish-eating wildlife and humans.
Plastics have become an indispensable part of our lives due to their low cost and long lifespan, and their production is increasing. They are broken down into small structures, such as microplastics and nanoplastics, through different pathways. Compared to macro-sized plastics, their penetration and transport rates are significantly higher. They can remain without degradation for many years when released into the environmental habitat. They can be toxic due to the chemical structures added to provide flexibility or resistance to high and low temperatures during plastic production. Therefore, they can become an essential pollutant in the ecosystem. They can cause adverse effects on aquatic organisms by disrupting the balance of various water parameters, causing bioaccumulation in aquatic environments, and threatening the aquatic ecosystem. These small-sized plastics can cause anomalies in the organs of aquatic organisms. Toxicity is observed in the tissues of fish exposed to nano and microplastics in aquatic environments. They can cause developmental, reproductive, and gastrointestinal system disorders, oxidative stress, and toxicity by showing bioaccumulation in the tissues. The effects of these substances on organisms such as high trophic level fish constantly increase. In recent years, zebrafish and embryos have frequently been preferred to evaluate the toxic effects of plastics. This review aims to evaluate the effects of micro and nanoplastics, which pose a risk to ecosystems and organisms due to increasing plastic usage, on zebrafish as a model organism through a series of systems such as reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, locomotor activity, cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, oxidative stress, and developmental toxicity.
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Researchers comprehensively reviewed micro- and nanoplastic bioaccumulation and toxicity in zebrafish, finding that these particles accumulate in digestive organs, gills, liver, and brain, inducing oxidative stress, developmental delays, neurotoxicity, and transgenerational reproductive impairments that highlight broad ecological risks.
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Zebrafish embryos exposed to low-density polyethylene microplastics for 48 hours accumulated particles in their gut, experienced reduced hatching rates, increased heart rates, and significant tissue damage, with smaller particles causing the most harm. These acute effects in a widely used model organism suggest that even brief early-life exposure to plastic particles can disrupt normal development.
The Impact of Microplastic Pollution on the Reproduction and Development of Marine Fish: A Case Study of Zebrafish
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Researchers investigated how microplastic exposure affects zebrafish reproduction and offspring development, finding disruptions to gonadal tissue, reduced fertilization rates, and developmental abnormalities in embryos, offering a controlled model for understanding plastic pollution risks to marine fish populations.
Toxicity and behavioral response of zebrafish exposed to combined microplastic and bisphenol analogues
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Co-exposure of zebrafish larvae to polystyrene microplastics combined with bisphenol A or F increased larval lethality by 7–51% compared to either pollutant alone, while also causing stronger behavioral effects including reduced movement and activity. This synergistic toxicity — not seen in embryos — highlights the danger of treating microplastics and chemical contaminants as independent hazards, since real-world exposures are always mixed.
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