Secondary nanoplastics released from a biodegradable microplastic severely impact freshwater environments
| Autor: | Miguel Tamayo-Belda, Francisco Leganés, Francisca Fernández-Piñas, Roberto Rosal, Miguel González-Pleiter, Gerardo Pulido-Reyes, Georgiana Amariei |
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| Přispěvatelé: | UAM. Departamento de Biología |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Chemistry
Materials Science (miscellaneous) Aquatic ecosystem technology industry and agriculture Context (language use) macromolecular substances 02 engineering and technology Marine Debris 010501 environmental sciences Biología y Biomedicina / Biología 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology 01 natural sciences Polyhydroxybutyrate Abiotic degradation Environmental chemistry Litter Natural degradation Ecotoxicology lipids (amino acids peptides and proteins) Biodegradable plastic 0210 nano-technology Plastics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences General Environmental Science |
| Zdroj: | Environmental Science: Nano. 6:1382-1392 |
| ISSN: | 2051-8161 2051-8153 |
| DOI: | 10.1039/c8en01427b |
| Popis: | This article is part of the themed collection: Environmental Science: Nano Recent HOT Articles https://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/articlecollectionlanding?sercode=en&themeid=280a8 9ca-3eed-4abe-ae65-c856206f6c3c Article selected by the Editors in Chief of Environmental Science journals: DOI: 10.1039/D0EM90014A (Editorial) Over the last five decades, plastics production has increased as a consequence of their use in strategic sectors causing damage on aquatic ecosystems. In this context, biodegradable plastics have emerged as an ecological alternative because they are easily degradable in the environment. Despite the recent advances in the field of plastic ecotoxicology, the ecological impact of secondary nanoplastics (nanoplastics resulting from natural degradation of micro and macro plastics) in the environment remains poorly understood. Here, we have investigated the effects of secondary nanoplastics of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable plastic, on three representative organisms of aquatic ecosystems. Secondary PHB-nanoplastics were produced from PHB-microplastics by abiotic degradation under environmentally representative conditions. Secondary PHB-nanoplastics induced a significant decrease in cellular growth and altered relevant physiological parameters in all organisms. We investigated whether the observed toxicity was exerted by PHB-nanoplastics themselves or by other abiotic degradation products released from PHB-microplastics. An experiment was run in which PHB-nanoplastics were removed by ultrafiltration; the resulting supernatant was not toxic to the organisms, ruling out the presence of toxic chemicals in the PHB-microplastics. In addition, we have performed a complete physicochemical characterization confirming the presence of secondary PHB-nanoplastics in the 75-200 nm range. All results put together indicated that secondary PHB-nanoplastics released as a consequence of abiotic degradation of PHB-microplastics were harmful for the tested organisms, suggesting that biodegradable plastic does not mean safe for the environment in the case of PHB |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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