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The distinct toxicity effects between commercial and realistic polystyrene microplastics on microbiome and histopathology of gut in zebrafish
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Researchers compared the toxic effects of commercially manufactured polystyrene microplastics with environmentally weathered ones on the gut microbiome and intestinal tissue of zebrafish. The study found that the two types of microplastics produced distinct effects, suggesting that commonly used commercial microplastics in laboratory studies may not accurately represent the impacts of real-world microplastic pollution.
As a ubiquitous emerging pollutant, microplastics (MPs) have attracted widespread attention. At this stage, researchers mainly employed commercial MPs (CMPs) as the model particles to explore the toxic effects of MPs. But whether CMPs can reflect the effects of realistic MPs (RMPs) still remains unknown. Herein, the effects of commercial and realistic polystyrene MPs on gut microbiota of zebrafish were compared. Considering MPs co-exist with antibiotics in real environment, we further distinguished the effects of CMPs and RMPs when they co-existed with enrofloxacin (ENR). The results revealed that while both CMPs and RMPs significantly shifted the gut microbiota, CMPs exhibited stronger toxic effects and more severe damage to gut. Furthermore, ENR exhibited a distinct effect with both CMPs and RMPs on gut microbiota, while the addition of CMPs and RMPs significantly alleviated the toxicity of ENR. In addition, analysis via Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database revealed that seven major level 1 pathways associated with metabolism, information processing and diseases in the microbial community were affected. Taken together, this work is the first to report that CMPs could not represent RMPs in terms of toxicity and other behaviors, reminding people the limits of using CMPs in ecotoxicology studies.
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Effects of polystyrene microplastics on the composition of the microbiome and metabolism in larval zebrafish
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Researchers exposed larval zebrafish to two sizes of polystyrene microplastics and found significant changes in gut microbiome composition and metabolic activity. The microplastics altered the abundance and diversity of gut bacteria and disrupted metabolic pathways important for development. The study suggests that early-life exposure to microplastics could have meaningful biological consequences by reshaping the gut environment of developing organisms.
Polystyrene microplastics induce microbiota dysbiosis and inflammation in the gut of adult zebrafish
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Researchers exposed adult zebrafish to polystyrene microplastics of two different sizes for 14 days and found significant disruptions to the gut microbiome, including shifts in key bacterial populations. Smaller microplastic particles also triggered inflammatory responses in the gut, with elevated levels of inflammatory markers at both the gene and protein level. The study suggests that microplastic ingestion can disturb gut bacteria balance and cause intestinal inflammation in aquatic organisms.
DistinctEffects between Polystyrene Micro- and Nanoplastics:Exacerbation of Adverse Outcomes in Inflammatory Bowel Disease-likeZebrafish and Mice
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Researchers compared the effects of polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics on a biological system, finding that nanoplastics caused more severe adverse effects than microplastics at equivalent mass doses, likely due to greater surface area and cellular penetration capacity.
Comparison of gut toxicity and microbiome effects in zebrafish exposed to polypropylene microplastics: Interesting effects of UV-weathering on microbiome
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Zebrafish exposed to UV-weathered polypropylene microplastics showed different and sometimes more severe gut damage than those exposed to fresh microplastics, including greater accumulation in the digestive tract and more disruption of gut bacteria. Interestingly, the weathered microplastics enriched certain beneficial gut bacteria while the fresh ones did not. This matters because real-world microplastics are weathered by sunlight, meaning lab studies using only pristine plastics may underestimate actual health risks.
Addressing the relevance of polystyrene nano- and microplastic particles used to support exposure, toxicity and risk assessment: implications and recommendations
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This paper raises important concerns about how most microplastic safety studies use commercially manufactured polystyrene beads that differ significantly from the weathered, irregular plastic particles people actually encounter in the environment. The uniform lab beads have different shapes, surface chemistry, and chemical compositions than real-world microplastics, which means current toxicity studies may not accurately represent the true health risks of environmental plastic exposure.
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