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Toxicity and behavioral response of zebrafish exposed to combined microplastic and bisphenol analogues
Summary
Co-exposure of zebrafish larvae to polystyrene microplastics combined with bisphenol A or F increased larval lethality by 7–51% compared to either pollutant alone, while also causing stronger behavioral effects including reduced movement and activity. This synergistic toxicity — not seen in embryos — highlights the danger of treating microplastics and chemical contaminants as independent hazards, since real-world exposures are always mixed.
Microplastics and bisphenol analogues are emerging environmental pollutants widely occurring in freshwaters. Harmful effects of microplastics and bisphenols have been studied individually, yet there is few knowledge on their combined effect. Here, we conducted acute toxicity tests using embryonic and larval zebrafish to assess the combined lethality after co-exposure of bisphenol A or F and 0.5- and 25-μm polystyrene microplastic particles. We monitored the accumulation of microplastics in zebrafish. We also studied the impact on the behavior of larval zebrafish. Results show that co-exposure of bisphenols and polystyrene microplastics increased lethality of larvae by 6.8–51% for bisphenol F and by 6.7–30.1% for bisphenol A. However, the bisphenol lethality toward embryos remains unchanged in the presence of microplastics. Fluorescence analysis shows that 0.5- and 25-μm microplastics accumulate in the larvae gastrointestinal area in a dose-dependent pattern, but did not concentrate in the embryo. Overall, co-exposure of polystyrene microplastics and bisphenol analogues displayed stronger behavioral effects, e.g. reduced moving distance and activity,) toward zebrafish larvae, compared with single pollutant exposure.