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Toxicity assessment of pollutants sorbed on microplastics using various bioassays on two fish cell lines
Summary
Researchers collected microplastic samples from ocean expeditions and tested their toxicity using two fish cell lines, finding that cell lines differed in sensitivity and that microplastics with sorbed pollutants were toxic to cells. The results suggest that real-world microplastics carrying accumulated chemical pollutants pose a chemical toxicity risk to marine organisms beyond just the physical effects of ingesting plastic.
Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments resulted from runoff and weathering breakdown of larger plastics debris. They represent an emerging concern for marine ecosystems. Microplastics impacts on aquatic life are little studied. These small particles could be ingested directly by organisms and cause chronic physical and toxicological effects. Moreover, microplastics are the support for a lot of chemicals present in aquatic environment, especially hydrophobic substances. The aims of this study is to investigate toxicity of environmental microplastics samples collected during the Race for Water Odyssey in fish cell lines. A difference of sensitivity was observed between fish cell lines. Preliminary results obtained here support that RTLW-1 could be an interesting tool to evaluate the potential chemical toxicity of microplastics and sorbed pollutants. Toxicity of extracts from MP collected worldwide suggests a biological impact?