Many studies have investigated the toxic effects of microplastics in marine organisms, but most studied nano-sized round microplastics at high concentrations and were not environmentally relevant. To understand the cellular toxicity of polyethylene terephthalate microfibers (PET-MFs) by length (50 and 100 μm), Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were exposed to environmental (0.5 μg/L) and high (100 mg/L) MF concentrations for four days. Short PET-MFs accumulated in the lower intestinal organs of the mussels, but long PET-MFs were only observed in the upper intestinal organs. Both sized PET-MFs affected necrosis, DNA damage, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide, and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. Significant MF length-dependent effects occurred at environmentally relevant concentrations for DNA damage (100 μm MFs) and AChE activity (50 μm MFs). However, length effects disappeared at the higher exposure concentration. The current study provides potentially sensitive indicators to detect MFs exposure and the ecotoxicological implications of MFs in marine ecosystems.

许多研究已经研究了微塑料在海洋生物中的毒性作用，但是大多数研究了高浓度的纳米级圆形微塑料，并且与环境无关。要了解长度（50和100μm）的聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯超细纤维（PET-MFs），地中海贻贝（Mytilus galloprovincialis）的细胞毒性）暴露于环境（0.5μg/ L）和高（100 mg / L）MF浓度下四天。短的PET-MFs积聚在贻贝的肠下部，但是长的PET-MFs仅在肠的上部器官中观察到。两种大小的PET-MF都会影响坏死，DNA损伤，活性氧，一氧化氮和乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）活性。在与环境相关的浓度下，DNA损伤（100μmMFs）和AChE活性（50μmMFs）发生了明显的MF长度依赖性效应。然而，在较高的暴露浓度下，长度效应消失了。当前的研究提供了潜在敏感的指标，以检测MFs的暴露以及MFs在海洋生态系统中的生态毒理学意义。