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Polystyrene nanoplastics affected the nutritional quality of Chlamys farreri through disturbing the function of gills and physiological metabolism: Comparison with microplastics
Summary
Researchers exposed scallops to polystyrene microplastics and nanoplastics at environmentally realistic levels and found that both sizes reduced the protein content and overall quality of the edible muscle. Nanoplastics caused more damage than microplastics, disrupting gill function, metabolism, and triggering oxidative stress through mitochondrial damage pathways. This study shows that plastic pollution could reduce the nutritional value of commercially harvested shellfish that people eat.
Although microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have become a global concern because of their possible hazards to marine organisms, few studies have investigated the effects of MPs/NPs on the nutritional quality of marine economic species, and the toxicity mechanisms remain unclear. We therefore investigated the effects of polystyrene MPs (PS-MPs, 5 μm) and NPs (PS-NPs, 100 nm) at an environmentally relevant concentration on adult scallops Chlamys farreri through the determination of nutritional composition, physiological metabolism, enzymatic response, and histopathology. Results showed that plastic particles significantly decreased the plumpness (by 33.32 % for PS-MPs and 36.69 % for PS-NPs) and protein content of the adductor muscle (by 4.88 % for PS-MPs and 8.77 % for PS-NPs) in scallops, with PS-NPs causing more notable impacts than PS-MPs. Based on the integrated biomarker response analysis, PS-NPs exhibited greater toxicity than PS-MPs, suggesting a size-dependent effect for plastic particle. Furthermore, PS-NPs significantly affected the physiological metabolism (e.g., filtration and ammonia excretion) than PS-MPs. Using gill transcriptomics analysis, the key toxicological mechanisms caused by NPs exposure included enrichment of the mitophagy pathway, responses to oxidative stress, and changes related to genes associated with nerves. This study provides new insights into the potential negative effects of MPs/NPs on the mariculture industry.