Effects of Microplastics on Cardiotoxicity in Zebrafish Larvae Studied

According to the abstract of a Chemosphere article to be published July 2023 by researchers with the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology “… The size of microplastics (MPs) plays an important role in combined toxic effects including synergistic or antagonistic effects … we employed a zebrafish model to investigate the effects of MP size on the combined toxicity of benz[a]anthracene (BaA), a representative polyaromatic hydrocarbon, using three different sizes of polystyrene MPs (PSMPs) … Treatment of all groups did not result in any mortality of the zebrafish larvae. However, small-sized PSMPs (0.2 μm) enhanced the toxic effect of BaA in larvae such as cardiac defect and disruption of vessel formation. Medium-sized PSMPs (1.0 μm) were boundary in terms of the combined toxic effect; however, large-sized PSMPs (10 μm) alleviated the cardiotoxicity of BaA, including cardiac defect, ROS levels, and cell death … the combined toxic effects of MPs are dependent on their size, which plays an important role in the transport and accumulation of environmental pollutants …” #PlasticWaste #SingleUsePlastic #MicroPlastics @KISTKOREA