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Developmental toxicity of pre-production plastic pellets affects a large swathe of invertebrate taxa
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This study tested the toxicity of chemicals leaching from plastic pre-production pellets (nurdles) on the embryonic development of animals from all major animal groups, including sea urchins, mussels, worms, and crustaceans. The plastic leachates caused developmental problems across nearly all species tested, including disrupted cell formation, abnormal body shapes, and impaired growth. These findings suggest that plastic pollution could have widespread, potentially devastating effects on marine animal populations that humans depend on for food.
Microplastics pose risks to marine organisms through ingestion, entanglement, and as carriers of toxic additives and environmental pollutants. Plastic pre-production pellet leachates have been shown to affect the development of sea urchins and, to some extent, mussels. The extent of those developmental effects on other animal phyla remains unknown. Here, we test the toxicity of environmental mixed nurdle samples and new PVC pellets for the embryonic development or asexual reproduction by regeneration of animals from all the major animal superphyla (Lophotrochozoa, Ecdysozoa, Deuterostomia and Cnidaria). Our results show diverse, concentration-dependent impacts in all the species sampled for new pellets, and for molluscs and deuterostomes for environmental samples. Embryo axial formation, cell specification and, specially, morphogenesis seem to be the main processes affected by plastic leachate exposure. Our study serves as a proof of principle for the potentially catastrophic effects that increasing plastic concentrations in the oceans and other ecosystems can have across animal populations from all major animal superphyla.
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Developmental toxicity of pre-production plastic pellets affects a large swathe of invertebrate taxa
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers tested the developmental toxicity of plastic pre-production pellet leachates across a wide range of invertebrate species from all major animal superphyla. They found concentration-dependent harmful effects on embryo development, cell specification, and morphogenesis in species from molluscs to cnidarians. The study serves as a proof of principle that increasing plastic concentrations in marine environments could have widespread, potentially catastrophic effects on animal development across many taxonomic groups.
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Chemical leachates from microplastics — the chemicals that wash off plastic surfaces — caused developmental abnormalities in marine sea urchin and bryozoan larvae at environmentally relevant concentrations. The findings suggest that chemical leaching from plastics may be as harmful as the particles themselves for marine organisms in early life stages.
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Researchers assessed the toxicity of both virgin and beach-stranded plastic pellets to sea urchin embryo development. The study found that chemical substances leaching from microplastics into surrounding water caused developmental abnormalities, indicating that microplastics can release harmful compounds that affect marine organisms even without direct ingestion.
Assessing the effect of microplastics on marine invertebrates: the consequence of exposure of sea urchin larvae to polystyrene microplastics
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Researchers exposed sea urchin larvae (Paracentrotus lividus) to polystyrene microplastics derived from commercial disposable plates and assessed effects on fertilization, embryogenesis, and larval development, finding significant impairment of early developmental stages at environmentally relevant concentrations.
Developmental toxicity of plastic leachates on the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus
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Leachates from new industrial nurdles, beached nurdles, and biobeads caused developmental abnormalities in sea urchin embryos, with chemical analysis identifying a diverse mixture of additives and environmental contaminants in each leachate — providing detailed morphological documentation of plastic leachate developmental toxicity.
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