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Polystyrene microplastics induce mortality through acute cell stress and inhibition of cholinergic activity in a brine shrimp

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Abstract

Backgrounds

The environmental impacts of microplastics (MPs) are increasingly of concern, particularly for their sources, global distribution, and persistency in aquatic ecosystems. Although the ubiquitous and persistent nature of MPs in waterbodies is evident, their effects and health implications for aquatic animals are still open to debate.

Objective

The brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana was exposed to different concentrations (1–1000 particles mL−1) of four sizes (1, 3, 6, and 10 μm) of non-functionalized polystyrene microbeads. To measure MPs effects, several physiological and biochemical parameters such as ingestion and egestion, stress biomarkers [e.g., heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) family, enzymatic activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)], acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, and survival rate for 30 days were analyzed.

Results

Exposure to waterborne MPs showed clear ingestion and egestion in A. franciscana. Exposure to relatively larger sizes of 1000 particles mL−1 MPs dose–dependently increased mRNA expression of hsp70 families and enzymatic activities of CAT and SOD within 96 h. Significant inhibitory effects on AChE activity were observed in response to 1000 particles mL−1 with increases in mortality for 30 days. Thirty-day survival of juveniles was dose-dependently affected, with greater effects seen at 1000 particles mL−1 of MPs.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that MPs exposure to the early stages of brine shrimp could be detrimental for population maintenance through inhibition of cholinergic system and the induction of acute cell stress, including oxidative stress.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (Grant no. NRF-2017R1A6A1A06015181).

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Author notes

  1. Hye-Jin Eom and Sang-Eun Nam contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Science, College of Natural Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Republic of Korea

    Hye-Jin Eom, Sang-Eun Nam & Jae-Sung Rhee

  2. Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Republic of Korea

    Jae-Sung Rhee

  3. Institute of Green Environmental Research Center, Incheon, 21999, Republic of Korea

    Jae-Sung Rhee

Authors
  1. Hye-Jin Eom
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  2. Sang-Eun Nam
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  3. Jae-Sung Rhee
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Contributions

HJE and SEN contributed equally to this work; HJE and SEN performed most of the experiments, analyzed the results, interpreted the data, and wrote manuscript; JSR conceived, supervised and supported the whole study, and wrote manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jae-Sung Rhee.

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Hye-Jin Eom, Sang-Eun Nam, and Jae-Sung Rhee declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The article does not contain any studies with human and animal that needed experimental permission, and this study was performed institutional and national guidelines.

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Eom, HJ., Nam, SE. & Rhee, JS. Polystyrene microplastics induce mortality through acute cell stress and inhibition of cholinergic activity in a brine shrimp. Mol. Cell. Toxicol. 16, 233–243 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-020-00088-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-020-00088-4

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