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Nile red staining for rapid screening of plastic-suspect particles in edible seafood tissues
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Researchers developed a faster method for detecting microplastics in seafood using a fluorescent dye called Nile red, which makes plastic particles glow under special light. The technique correctly identified about 72% of suspected plastic particles in fish and shrimp samples, making it useful for large-scale screening. Faster detection methods like this are important for monitoring how much microplastic contamination is present in the seafood people eat.
Concerns regarding microplastic (MP) contamination in aquatic ecosystems and its impact on seafood require a better understanding of human dietary MP exposure including extensive monitoring. While conventional techniques for MP analysis like infrared or Raman microspectroscopy provide detailed particle information, they are limited by low sample throughput, particularly when dealing with high particle numbers in seafood due to matrix-related residues. Consequently, more rapid techniques need to be developed to meet the requirements of large-scale monitoring. This study focused on semi-automated fluorescence imaging analysis after Nile red staining for rapid MP screening in seafood. By implementing RGB-based fluorescence threshold values, the need for high operator expertise to prevent misclassification was addressed. Food-relevant MP was identified with over 95% probability and differentiated from natural polymers with a 1% error rate. Comparison with laser direct infrared imaging (LDIR), a state-of-the-art method for rapid MP analysis, showed similar particle counts, indicating plausible results. However, highly variable recovery rates attributed to inhomogeneous particle spiking experiments highlight the need for future development of certified reference material including sample preparation. The proposed method demonstrated suitability of high throughput analysis for seafood samples, requiring 0.02-0.06 h/cm filter surface compared to 4.5-14.7 h/cm with LDIR analysis. Overall, the method holds promise as a screening tool for more accurate yet resource-intensive MP analysis methods such as spectroscopic or thermoanalytical techniques.
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A rapid-screening approach to detect and quantify microplastics based on fluorescent tagging with Nile Red
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Researchers developed a rapid fluorescent screening method using Nile Red dye to detect and quantify microplastics in environmental samples, finding it significantly faster than conventional methods while maintaining reasonable accuracy.
Nile Red staining for detecting microplastics in biota: Preliminary evidence
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Nile Red fluorescent staining was tested for identifying microplastics in biological tissue samples, finding that it successfully highlighted plastic particles in fish guts and bivalve tissues with minimal interference from digested organic residues, supporting its use as a quick screening tool before confirmatory spectroscopy.
Rapid detection of microplastic contamination using Nile red fluorescent tagging
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Researchers developed a rapid microplastic detection method using Nile Red (NR) fluorescent staining combined with zinc chloride density-based extraction and filtration for analysis of coastal marine sediment samples. The approach was cross-validated against conventional light microscopy, demonstrating improved speed and sensitivity for identifying microplastics of various sizes in environmental sediment matrices.
Identification and Quantification of Microplastics Using Nile Red Staining
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This study developed a rapid fluorescent staining method using the dye Nile Red to identify and quantify microplastics in environmental samples, offering an alternative to slower and more expensive spectroscopic techniques. Nile Red staining provides a faster way to differentiate microplastics from natural particles in large sample sets, improving throughput for environmental monitoring.
Potential for Nile red dye-based analysis of microplastics from oceanic samples
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Researchers evaluated the Nile red fluorescent dye method for detecting and characterizing microplastics in ocean water samples, assessing its effectiveness compared to other analytical techniques. The method shows promise as a faster, lower-cost approach to large-scale microplastic monitoring.
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