Effects of pristine or contaminated polyethylene microplastics on zebrafish development

• Autor(a) principal: Tarasco, Marco
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Gavaia, Paulo, Bensimon-Brito, Anabela, Cordelières, Fabrice P., Santos, Tamara, Martins, Gil, De Castro, Daniela, Silva, Nadia, Cabrita, Elsa, Bebianno, Maria, Stainier, Didier Y.R., Cancela, M. Leonor, Laizé, Vincent
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/18655
• topic: Microplastics; Polyethylene; Benzo[α]pyrene; Zebrafish; Osteotoxicity; Reproduction; Development; Intergenerational effect

The presence of microplastics in the aquatic ecosystem represents a major issue for the environment and human health. The capacity of organic pollutants to adsorb onto microplastic particles raises additional concerns, as it creates a new route for toxic compounds to enter the food web. Current knowledge on the impact of pristine and/or contaminated microplastics on aquatic organisms remains insufficient, and we provide here new insights by evaluating their biological effects in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Zebrafish larvae were raised in ZEB316 stand-alone housing systems and chronically exposed throughout their development to polyethylene particles of 20-27 mu m, pristine (MP) or spiked with benzo[alpha]pyrene (MP-BaP), supplemented at 1% w/w in the fish diet. While they had no effect at 30 days post-fertilization (dpf), MP and MP-BaP affected growth parameters at 90 and 360 dpf. Relative fecundity, egg morphology, and yolk area were also impaired in zebrafish fed MP-BaP. Zebrafish exposed to experimental diets exhibited an increased incidence of skeletal deformities at 30 dpf as well as an impaired development of caudal fin/scales, and a decreased bone quality at 90 dpf. An intergenerational bone formation impairment was also observed in the offspring of parents exposed to MP or MP-BaP through a reduction of the opercular bone in 6 dpf larvae. Beside a clear effect on bone development, histological analysis of the gut revealed a reduced number of goblet cells in zebrafish fed MP-BaP diet, a sign of intestinal inflam-mation. Finally, exposure of larvae to MP-BaP up-regulated the expression of genes associated with the BaP response pathway, while negatively impacting the expression of genes involved in oxidative stress. Altogether, these data suggest that long-term exposure to pristine/contaminated microplastics not only jeopardizes fish growth, reproduction performance, and skeletal health, but also causes intergenerational effects.