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Assessment of the Influence of Size and Concentration on the Ecotoxicity of Microplastics to Microalgae Scenedesmus sp., Bacterium Pseudomonas putida and Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Researchers assessed the ecotoxicity of five common microplastic types on microalgae, bacteria, and yeast, finding that polyvinyl chloride caused the most growth inhibition and that smaller particle sizes generally increased harmful effects.
The harmful effects of microplastics are not yet fully revealed. This study tested harmful effects of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics were tested. Growth inhibition tests were conducted using three microorganisms with different characteristics: Scenedesmus sp., Pseudomonas putida, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The growth inhibition test with Scenedesmus sp. is relatively widely used, while the tests with Pseudomonas putida and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were, to our knowledge, applied to microplastics for the first time. The influence of concentration and size of microplastic particles, in the range of 50-1000 mg/L and 200-600 µm, was tested. Determined inhibitions on all three microorganisms confirmed the hazardous potential of the microplastics used. Modeling of the inhibition surface showed the increase in harmfulness with increasing concentration of the microplastics. Particle size showed no effect for Scenedesmus with PE, PP and PET, Pseudomonas putida with PS, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae with PP. In the remaining cases, higher inhibitions followed a decrease in particle size. The exception was Scenedesmus sp. with PS, where the lowest inhibitions were obtained at 400 µm. Finally, among the applied tests, the test with Saccharomyces cerevisiae proved to be the most sensitive to microplastics.
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Researchers found that microplastics from multiple polymer types inhibit growth of the freshwater alga Scenedesmus quadricauda and induce oxidative stress, with toxicity varying by polymer type, particle size, and concentration.
Determination of polyethylene microplastics toxicity by microalgae Scenedesmus sp.
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This study investigated the toxicity of polyethylene microplastics on the freshwater microalgae Scenedesmus sp. Results showed that microplastics inhibited algal growth and photosynthesis, indicating potential harm to aquatic ecosystems.
Influence of microplastics particle size on the toxicity of the microalgae Scenedesmus sp.
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This study tested how particle size affects the toxicity of microplastics to freshwater microalgae (Scenedesmus sp.), finding that smaller particles were more toxic. The size-dependent toxicity of microplastics is important for risk assessment, as environmental samples contain particles of widely varying sizes.
Microplastics impacts in seven flagellate microalgae: Role of size and cell wall
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Seven marine flagellate microalgae species were incubated with 1-micrometer polystyrene microplastics at 10 mg/L, revealing that cell size and the presence of a cell wall strongly influenced the degree of microplastic-induced physiological and growth effects across species.
Effects of polypropylene and polyethylene microplastics on growth and photosynthetic pigment synthesis by Scenedesmus sp.
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Researchers tested the effects of polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics on the growth and photosynthetic pigments of Scenedesmus microalgae at three concentrations. They found that microplastic exposure negatively impacted both algal growth and chlorophyll production regardless of polymer type, with smaller particles and higher concentrations causing the most pronounced effects. The study also detected several phthalate compounds leaching from the microplastics, raising additional ecological concerns.
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