Leachate from plastic food packaging induced reproductive and neurobehavioral toxicity in zebrafish

Lin, Jian; Xiao, Yanyan; Yi, Liu; Lei, Yuhang; Cai, Yaojun; Liang, Qiuju; Nie, Shangfei; Jia, Yinhang; Chen, Shan; Huang, Changjiang; Chen, Jiangfei

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113189

Cited by 10 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 31 publications

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“… This fraction of DEGs was less for the AFD leachate treatment (≤3%), suggesting a more pronounced effect by the AFP leachate. Additionally, Lin et al exposed 4-month-old (adult) zebrafish to PE leachates prepared in water at 95 °C for 24 h for 8 weeks and observed a significant reduction in swim speed and light–dark responsiveness at the end of the exposure period. Thermal and photochemical degradation of PE can produce similar degradation products .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formulation Controls the Potential Neuromuscular Toxicity of Polyethylene Photoproducts in Developing Zebrafish

James

Karchner

Walsh

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Sunlight transforms plastic into water-soluble products, the potential toxicity of which remains unresolved, particularly for vertebrate animals. We evaluated acute toxicity and gene expression in developing zebrafish larvae after 5 days of exposure to photoproduced (P) and dark (D) leachates from additive-free polyethylene (PE) film and consumer-grade, additive-containing, conventional, and recycled PE bags. Using a "worst-case" scenario, with plastic concentrations exceeding those found in natural waters, we observed no acute toxicity. However, at the molecular level, RNA sequencing revealed differences in the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for each leachate treatment: thousands of genes (5442 P, 577 D) for the additive-free film, tens of genes for the additive-containing conventional bag (14 P, 7 D), and none for the additive-containing recycled bag. Gene ontology enrichment analyses suggested that the additivefree PE leachates disrupted neuromuscular processes via biophysical signaling; this was most pronounced for the photoproduced leachates. We suggest that the fewer DEGs elicited by the leachates from conventional PE bags (and none from recycled bags) could be due to differences in photoproduced leachate composition caused by titanium dioxide-catalyzed reactions not present in the additive-free PE. This work demonstrates that the potential toxicity of plastic photoproducts can be product formulation-specific.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%