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Biological effects of microplastics contaminated by heavy metals on greater duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza
Summary
Researchers investigated the biological effects of microplastics contaminated with a mixture of heavy metals — copper, lead, and zinc — on the aquatic macrophyte greater duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza), measuring growth rate and physiological parameters. The study found that metal-adsorbing microplastics posed greater phytotoxic stress than clean microplastics, highlighting the combined hazard of plastic and metal co-contamination.
Zbog svoje ekonomske isplativosti i široke primjene, plastika je postala neizostavan materijal u svakodnevnom ljudskom životu. Plastika se u okolišu djelovanjem različitih fizičkih i kemijskih procesa razgrađuje na manje čestice plastike koje tada nazivamo mikroplastika (MP). Degradirane čestice MP kasnije postaju veliki problem i prijetnja za ekosustav i organizme koji dođu u doticaj s njom jer lakše stupaju u interakciju s organskim i anorganskim onečišćivačima i adsorbiraju ih. MP najčešće na sebe adsorbira teške metale i postupno ih otpušta u okoliš. U ovome radu istražen je utjecaj čiste MP (smjesa čestica polietilena, polistirena, polipropilena i gume) i MP onečišćene smjesom teških metala (bakar, olovo i cink) na stopu rasta barske leće (Spirodela polyrhiza L.) i na pojedine fiziološke i biokemijske pokazatelje oksidacijskog stresa (sadržaj fotosintetskih pigmenata, karbonila i malondialdehida te aktivnost akntioksidacijskih enzima). Rezultati su pokazali da dolazi do otpuštanja metala s površine MP u hranjivu podlogu te do njihovog nakupljanja u barskoj leći, no samo je nakupljanje Cu pri najvećoj koncentraciji MP onečišćene teškim metalima bilo statistički značajno u usporedbi s kontrolom i drugim tretmanima. Sedmodnevno izlaganje barske leće česticama čiste MP i MP onečišćene metalima nije statistički značajno utjecalo na stopu rasta. Primjećen je porast aktivnosti antioksidacijskih enzima pri nižim koncentracijama čiste MP i višim koncentracijama MP s adsorbiranim metalima. Lipidna peroksidacija bila je značajno povećana pri pojedinim koncentracijama MP s adsorbiranim metalima, dok se sadržaj karbonila i topivih proteina nije statistički značajno mijenjao. Zaključno, barska leća predstavlja pogodan model za fitoremedijaciju.
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