As agriculture strives to feed an ever-increasing number of people, it must also adapt to increasing exposure to minute plastic particles. To learn about the accumulation of nanoplastics by plants, we prepared well-defined block copolymer nanoparticles by aqueous dispersion polymerisation. A fluorophore was incorporated via hydrazone formation and uptake into roots and protoplasts of Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated using confocal microscopy. Here we show that uptake is inversely proportional to nanoparticle size. Positively charged particles accumulate around root surfaces and are not taken up by roots or protoplasts, whereas negatively charged nanoparticles accumulate slowly and become prominent over time in the xylem of intact roots. Neutral nanoparticles penetrate rapidly into intact cells at the surfaces of plant roots and into protoplasts, but xylem loading is lower than for negative nanoparticles. These behaviours differ from those of animal cells and our results show that despite the protection of rigid cell walls, plants are accessible to nanoplastics in soil and water.

随着农业努力养活越来越多的人，它还必须适应越来越多地接触微小塑料颗粒。为了了解植物对纳米塑料的积累，我们通过水分散聚合制备了明确定义的嵌段共聚物纳米颗粒。荧光团通过腙的形成和吸收进入拟南芥的根和原生质体使用共聚焦显微镜进行了研究。在这里，我们表明吸收与纳米颗粒大小成反比。带正电的粒子在根表面周围积聚，不被根或原生质体吸收，而带负电的纳米粒子缓慢积聚，并随着时间的推移在完整根的木质部中变得突出。中性纳米粒子迅速渗透到植物根部表面的完整细胞和原生质体中，但木质部负载低于负纳米粒子。这些行为与动物细胞的行为不同，我们的结果表明，尽管有刚性细胞壁的保护，植物仍可接触土壤和水中的纳米塑料。