Nanoplastic neurotoxicity in the Marine Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis

• Autor(a) principal: Acker, Rachel
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/19794
• topic: Nanoplastics; Ecotoxicology; Neurotoxicity; Mytilus galloprovincialis; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Naturais::Outras Ciências Naturais

Plastic is a ubiquitous, long-lasting, problematic form of litter. It has been found everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the ocean’s deepest trench to the top of the world’s tallest mountain. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, so does the global dependence on the usage of single use plastics (SUPs), such as disposable face masks and takeout food containers. Once released into the environment, plastic fragments break down into microplastics (1-5 mm) and nanoplastics (1-100 nm) due to fragmentation and degradation processes. Compared to microplastics, nanoplastics have a much larger surface area to volume ratio, which makes them more reactive since they can adsorb different chemicals and travel across biological barriers. The present research was conducted to unravel potential toxicity responses caused by nanoplastics. This suggests that the seeping of plastics through cell membranes can affect all organisms, including those in higher trophic levels that consume contaminated prey. Toxins caused by nanoplastics may travel up the food chain and pose a risk to human health. This study confirmed neurotoxic effects in the gills of marine mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis after an exposure of 10 μgL-1 of Polystyrene (PS) nanoplastics after 21 days of contamination followed by 14 days of depuration using the biomarker Acetylcholinesterase (AChE).