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When nanoplastics (NPs) meet algae: Heteroaggregates exacerbate bioaccumulation, immunotoxicity, and microbial dysbiosis in the green mussel (Perna viridis)
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Researchers exposed green mussels to nanoplastics alone and to heteroaggregates of nanoplastics combined with microalgae, finding that heteroaggregates increased nanoplastic uptake rates by 5.5-fold and tissue accumulation by 2.5-fold, while also exacerbating immunotoxicity and gut microbiota disruption.
Heteroaggregates (HAs) formed by nanoplastics (NPs) and microalgae occur ubiquitously in natural aquatic systems. However, their influence on the toxicokinetics and biological effects of NPs in marine mussels remains largely unknown. Here, the green mussels (Perna viridis) were exposed to NPs and HAs at their environmentally relevant concentrations for 21 d, followed by a 7-d depuration phase. The effects on toxicokinetics, immunological responses, and microbiota of digestive gland were evaluated. The results showed that HAs increased the uptake rate constant in digestive gland by 5.5-fold and tissue accumulation of NPs by 2.5-fold compared to NPs alone, resulting in higher NPs burdens after depuration. Meanwhile, HAs exacerbated NPs-induced immunotoxicity, including increased hemocyte mortality and ROS production, and decreased phagocytosis and lysosomal membrane stability. Moreover, HAs led to more pronounced dysbiosis of microbiota in digestive gland than NPs alone, reducing fungal diversity by 56 % and enriching opportunistic fungal pathogens such as Fusarium, while bacterial communities showed minor shifts. This study has provided critical evidence that HAs act as a "Trojan horse," exacerbating NPs risks. This study highlights the necessity of adding the naturally occurring HAs into the ecological risk assessment framework of NPs, especially for benthic filter-feeding organisms.
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Researchers studied how polystyrene and polylactic acid nanoplastics hetero-aggregate with the alga Chlorella vulgaris, finding that extracellular polymeric substances released by algae strongly influenced aggregation behavior and that aggregation altered the toxicity of nanoplastics.
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Researchers exposed bivalves to mixed microplastic and nanoplastic suspensions of multiple sizes and quantified the effects on hemocyte immune cell populations over time. Heterogeneous MNP mixtures reshaped hemocyte subpopulations non-additively, altering immune function in ways that single-size exposure studies would not predict.
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