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Exposure to microplastics renders immunity of the thick-shell mussel more vulnerable to diarrhetic shellfish toxin-producing harmful algae
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Researchers found that mussels previously exposed to microplastics became more vulnerable to toxic algae blooms, suffering greater immune system damage than mussels without prior microplastic exposure. The microplastics weakened the mussels' defenses by causing oxidative stress, cell death, and energy depletion, leaving them less able to fight off the algal toxins. Since mussels are widely consumed as seafood, this combined threat could affect both marine ecosystems and food safety for humans.
Despite both microplastics (MPs) and harmful algae blooms (HABs) may pose a severe threat to the immunity of marine bivalves, the toxification mechanism underlying is far from being fully understood. In addition, owing to the prevalence and sudden occurrence characteristics of MPs and HABs, respectively, bivalves with MP-exposure experience may face acute challenge of harmful algae under realistic scenarios. However, little is known about the impacts and underlying mechanisms of MP-exposure experience on the susceptibility of immunity to HABs in bivalve mollusks. Taking polystyrene MPs and diarrhetic shellfish toxin-producing Prorocentrum lima as representatives, the impacts of MP-exposure on immunity vulnerability to HABs were investigated in the thick-shell mussel, Mytilus coruscus. Our results revealed evident immunotoxicity of MPs and P. lima to the mussel, as evidenced by significantly impaired total count, phagocytic activity, and cell viability of haemocytes, which may result from the induction of oxidative stress, aggravation of haemocyte apoptosis, and shortage in cellular energy supply. Moreover, marked disruptions of immunity, antioxidant system, apoptosis regulation, and metabolism upon MPs and P. lima exposure were illustrated by gene expression and comparative metabolomic analyses. Furthermore, the mussels that experienced MP-exposure were shown to be more vulnerable to P. lima, indicated by greater degree of deleterious effects on abovementioned parameters detected. In general, our findings emphasize the threat of MPs and HABs to bivalve species, which deserves close attention and more investigation.
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Researchers discovered that mussels previously exposed to microplastics accumulated significantly higher levels of shellfish toxins when later exposed to toxin-producing algae. The prior microplastic exposure impaired the mussels' ability to break down and eliminate the toxins from their bodies. The findings raise concerns that widespread microplastic pollution could increase the risk of shellfish toxin contamination in seafood consumed by humans.
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Tiny plastic particles in the ocean can make harmful algal toxins stick around longer in mussels and cause more damage to their tissues than the toxins would alone. This matters because mussels are a food we eat, and these findings show that ocean pollution from microplastics could make seafood more dangerous by helping toxic chemicals accumulate and persist in the animals we harvest.
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Researchers examined how microplastics carrying pathogenic bacteria affect the immune system of mussels. They found that while microplastics alone caused moderate immune cell disruption, the combination of microplastics and Vibrio bacteria significantly weakened antioxidant defenses and triggered cell death in mussel blood cells. The study demonstrates that microplastics can act as a "Trojan horse," delivering harmful pathogens into marine organisms and amplifying their toxic effects.
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