Invertebrate Species for the Bioavailability and Accumulation Assessment of Manufactured Polymer‐Based Nano‐ and Microplastics

Abstract

Bioaccumulation tests with invertebrates have recently been discussed as a suitable alternative to bioaccumulation tests with metal‐ or metal oxide‐based nanoparticles in fish for regulatory assessment. In the present study, as a first step, we investigated the suitability of three invertebrate species for bioaccumulation tests with nano‐ and microplastics. In a laboratory approach the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea, the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca, and the terrestrial isopod Porcellio scaber were exposed to fluorescently labeled nano‐ and microplastics to evaluate their suitability to estimate the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of these test items. No bioaccumulation was observed in H. azteca or P. scaber. In contrast, the measurement of the relative fluorescence of the test items in the soft tissue and the feces of the filter‐feeding bivalve allowed us to derive data that may be useful for the regulatory bioaccumulation assessment of manufactured nano‐ and microplastics. The developed measurement method using fluorescence represents a time‐efficient and cost‐effective analytical method for manufactured nano‐ and microplastics in laboratory studies for regulatory assessment. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:961–974. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

Microplastics pollution in genetically connected populations of Holothuria forskali from south Bay of Biscay

“…Fagiano et al (2023) found that marine sediments hold two-fold microplastics than sea surface waters and are dominated by fibers. Bioconcentration of MPs is supported by previous studies in marine invertebrates (Sfriso et al, 2020;A ́lvarez-Ruiz et al, 2021;Kuehr et al, 2022). In the case of sea cucumbers, bioconcentration has been hypothesised by other authors (Iwalaye et al, 2020;Lombardo et al, 2022;Martines et al, 2023) and confirmed in the genus Apostichopus (Mohsen et al, 2022).…”

Terrestrial Isopods Generate Microplastics from Low‐Density Polyethylene Without Effects on Survival

“…Two studies have specifically investigated the ingestion of MPs by terrestrial isopods. Kuehr et al (2022) studied whether manufactured nanoplastics and MPs accumulated in P. scaber . There were no observed instances of accumulation of MPs in the isopods after 14‐day exposures (Kuehr et al, 2022).…”

“…Kuehr et al (2022) studied whether manufactured nanoplastics and MPs accumulated in P. scaber . There were no observed instances of accumulation of MPs in the isopods after 14‐day exposures (Kuehr et al, 2022). Wood and Zimmer (2014) assessed the ability of P. scaber to consume biodegradable plastics.…”

Tracing and trapping micro- and nanoplastics: Untapped mitigation potential of aquatic plants?

“…In particular, the BCF of nanoplastics in E. crassipes reached 306.5 after 8 weeks of exposure, which is hundreds of times higher than those in crop pants (1.8~2.9). Previous studies have investigated the bioaccumulation of micro-and nanoplastics by various aquatic organisms, including invertebrates (Kuehr et al, 2022), zooplankton (Rist et al, 2017), zoobenthos (Redondo-Hasselerharm et al, 2021), shellfish (Al-Sid-Cheikh et al, 2018), as well as with fish species (Kim et al, 2021). Although it is difficult to compare the bioaccumulation in different organisms, floating plants like E. crassipes show a higher 'plastic particle trapping' potential than submersed or emersed plants under similar exposure concentrations of plastic particles.…”