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Quick and efficient microplastic isolation from fatty fish tissues by surfactant-enhanced alkaline digestion
Summary
Researchers developed a faster method for extracting microplastics from fish tissues using a combination of detergents and potassium hydroxide, completing digestion of 100-gram samples within 16 to 24 hours — far quicker than existing multi-day protocols. The technique reliably recovered six common plastic types down to 60-80 micrometers in fatty fish like mackerel and salmon, making routine food safety monitoring more practical.
For monitoring microplastic contamination in fish tissues, tissue digestion into filterable components prior to microplastic identification and quantification should be quick and efficient, providing satisfying microplastic recoveries of relevant particle sizes. Filtration with a small pore size, necessary to target small particles, is a challenge. Some proposed protocols take several days. To improve this, a combination of surfactants (Tween®-20 and Triton™ X-100) with potassium hydroxide (KOH) and pH neutralization was used. Fish bones were removed in tissue preparation prior to digestion. Recovery down to ca. 60-80 μm worked well for PA-66, PE, PET, PP, PS and PVC. In conclusion, we developed a comparatively swift digestion protocol, enabling filtration of 100 g samples with a pore size of 10 μm, for fish fillets with high (mackerel), intermediate (salmon, plaice) and low (cod) fat contents, fish liver, head kidney and oil samples, within 16-24 h.