Occurrence of phthalate esters and preliminary data on microplastics in fish from the Tyrrhenian sea (Italy) and impact on human health

Plastic additives in commercial fish of Aegean and Ionian Seas and potential hazard to human health

“…The consumption of the referenced portions of contaminated with PAEs fish flesh was unlikely to cause adverse effects to humans. The current results are in agreement with recent studies based on samples collected from the local fishers of the Tyrrhenian Sea (Squillante et al, 2023), and different fish markets in Spain (Castro et al, 2023). Although commonly used PAEs have high octanol-water partition coefficients, fishes exhibit a higher metabolic capacity to PAEs than other biota groups within marine environments and thus biomagnification is not generally expected to occur (Staples et al, 1997;Van Wezel et al, 2000;Oehlmann et al, 2008).…”

“…In addition, DBP and its metabolic monoester MNBP were both detected in the B.boops (NAS) and M.barbatus (IOS). DBP in M.barbatus has previously been reported for samples collected in the Tyrrhenian Sea (Squillante et al, 2023), with mean concentrations within its muscle tissues much higher than those reported under this study, that could occur due to variations in concentration levels between the two geographical sites (Savoca et al, 2023). The accumulation of DBP by marine organisms within Mediterranean Sea, has been previous detected (Vered et al, 2019;Panio et al, 2020).…”

“…The results highlighted the presence of DINP only in GIT tissue of E.encrasicolus species collected from NAS, while it was not detected in the muscle of the fish (Table 1). Higher concentrations of DINP in the GIT, in comparison to the other fish tissues examined, have also been cited for fish samples from the Tyrrhenian Sea (Squillante et al, 2023) and the Catania market (Salvaggio et al, 2019). Both DIDP and DINP presence has been found to impair the reproduction system and alter the behavioral patterns of the fish (e.g., Forner-Piquer et al, 2019;Poopal et al, 2020;Godoi et al, 2021), while unlike to DEHP that is monitored in the seawater due to legislative enforcement (EU, 2000), DIDP and DINP presence is only regulated for food contact materials (Hidalgo-Serrano et al, 2022).…”

“…M.barbatus is a demersal fish depending on the seafloor fauna to be fed, while B.boops is a benthopelagic species occurring both in benthic and pelagic habitats (Froese and Pauly, 2023). Notable differences in the concentration of PAEs between the different fish species have recently been reported in fish collected from Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Sea (Squadrone et al, 2023;Squillante et al, 2023). The habitat and the feeding habits and preferences of the species are considered important factors affecting the uptake of phthalates from the marine environment and their accumulation in the different tissues (Savoca et al, 2023).…”

Environmental Aspect Concerning Phthalates Contamination: Analytical Approaches and Assessment of Biomonitoring in the Aquatic Environment

“…Regarding Actinopterygii, the highest levels of DEHP were detected in the muscles of C. striata (2981.9 ng/g d.w.) [81], whereas among mammals, the highest values were recorded in T. truncatus muscles (783.0 ng/g w.w.) [89]. Focusing on the DnOP, the greater value present in Table 3 concerns C. caretta fat (5481.2 ng/g w.w.) compared to other tissues, probably due to the high lipophilicity of this substance [78], followed by the gills of M. barbatus (1061.0 ng/g d.w.), which may be related to its physiological function [80]; instead, in the only work investigating DnNP, the highest value was observed for L. japonicus (8.2 ng/g d.w.) [81].…”