Besides the adverse biological effects induced by microplastics (MPs), the effects associated with sorption of ambient pollutants on MPs are considered as an emerging environmental problem as MPs act as a mediator of pollutants. The present study examines the combined effects of nano(micro)plastics (NMPs) and arsenic (As) by exposing the marine rotifer Brachionus plicatilis to MP particles at the micro-scale (6 μm) and nano-scale (nanoplastics, NPs) (50 nm) along with As. In vivo toxicity, bioaccumulation, and biochemical reactions were used to examine the effects of combined exposure. The results of in vivo experiments showed that As toxicity increased with NP exposure, whereas toxicity was alleviated by MPs, indicating a different mode of action between NPs and MPs in combination with As. The highest level of As bioaccumulation was detected in NP + As groups, and followed by MP + As and As-only exposure groups, whereas no significant difference between groups was shown for As metabolites. In addition, the activity of several ATP-binding cassette proteins that confer multixenobiotic resistance, which is responsible for efflux of As, was activated by As but significantly inhibited by NP exposure, supporting the findings of in vivo experiments. Our results show that the effects of combining exposure to As with NP and MPs differ depending on particle size and provide an in-depth understanding of both environmental pollutants.

除了由微塑料（MP）引起的不利生物学影响外，与环境污染物对MP的吸附有关的影响还被视为新兴的环境问题，因为MP充当污染物的媒介。本研究通过将轮虫Brachionus plicatilis暴露于微米级（6μm）和纳米级（纳米塑料，NPs）的MP颗粒上，研究了纳米（micro）plastics（NMPs）和砷（As）的组合作用（ 50 nm）和As。体内毒性，生物蓄积和生化反应用于检查联合暴露的影响。体内结果实验表明，随着NP的暴露，砷的毒性增加，而MP减轻了毒性，表明NP和MP结合As的作用方式不同。在NP + As组中检测到最高的As生物富集水平，其次是MP + As和仅As暴露组，而As代谢物之间没有显着差异。另外，几种引起多异生物抗性的ATP结合盒蛋白的活性被As激活，但被NP暴露显着抑制，该蛋白引起As的外排，这在体内得到了证实。实验。我们的结果表明，将砷与NP和MP混合使用的效果因颗粒大小而异，并且可以深入了解两种环境污染物。