Plastics debris, especially microplastics, have been found worldwide in all marine compartments. Much research has been carried out on adsorbed pollutants on plastic pieces and hydrophobic organic ...compounds (HOC) associated with microplastics. However, only a few studies have focused on plastic additives. These chemicals are incorporated into plastics from which they can leach out as most of them are not chemically bound. As a consequence of plastic accumulation and fragmentation in oceans, plastic additives could represent an increasing ecotoxicological risk for marine organisms. The present work reviewed the main class of plastic additives identified in the literature, their occurrence in the marine environment, as well as their effects on and transfers to marine organisms. This work identified polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), phthalates, nonylphenols (NP), bisphenol A (BPA) and antioxidants as the most common plastic additives found in marine environments. Moreover, transfer of these plastic additives to marine organisms has been demonstrated both in laboratory and field studies. Upcoming research focusing on the toxicity of microplastics should include these plastic additives as potential hazards for marine organisms, and a greater focus on the transport and fate of plastic additives is now required considering that these chemicals may easily leach out from plastics.
•PBDEs, phthalathes, nonylphenol, BPA and antioxidants are common plastic additives.•Evidence for transfer and uptake of plastic additives by marine organisms.•Plastic additives have negative effects on marine organisms.•New research on microplastics should include their additives as a potential hazard.
Plastics are found to be major debris composing marine litter; microplastics (MP, < 5 mm) are found in all marine compartments. The amount of MPs tends to increase with decreasing size leading to a ...potential misidentification when only visual identification is performed. These last years, pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) has been used to get information on the composition of polymers with some applications on MP identification. The purpose of this work was to optimize and then validate a Py-GC/MS method, determine limit of detection (LOD) for eight common polymers, and apply this method on environmental MP. Optimization on multiple GC parameters was carried out using polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) microspheres. The optimized Py-GC/MS method require a pyrolysis temperature of 700 °C, a split ratio of 5 and 300 °C as injector temperature. Performance assessment was accomplished by performing repeatability and intermediate precision tests and calculating limit of detection (LOD) for common polymers. LODs were all below 1 μg. For performance assessment, identification remains accurate despite a decrease in signal over time. A comparison between identifications performed with Raman micro spectroscopy and with Py-GC/MS was assessed. Finally, the optimized method was applied to environmental samples, including plastics isolated from sea water surface, beach sediments, and organisms collected in the marine environment. The present method is complementary to μ-Raman spectroscopy as Py-GC/MS identified pigment containing particles as plastic. Moreover, some fibers and all particles from sediment and sea surface were identified as plastic.
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Microplastics (MPs), plastics with particles smaller than 5 mm, have been found almost in every corner of the world, especially in the ocean. Due to the small size, MPs can be ingested by animals and ...enter the marine trophic chain. MPs can affect animal health by physically causing damage to the digestive tract, leaking plastic chemical components, and carrying environmental pollutants and pathogens into animals. In this study, impacts of MPs ingestion on gut microbiota were investigated. Filter feeding mussels were exposed to “virgin” and “weathered” MPs at relatively realistic concentration 0.2 mg L−1 (“low”) and exaggerated concentration 20 mg L−1 (“high”) for 6 weeks. Influence in mussel gut microbiota was investigated with 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing. As compared with non-exposed mussels, alteration of gut microbiota was observed after mussels were exposed to MPs for 1 week, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and even after 8-day post-exposure depuration. Potential human pathogens were found among operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with increased abundance induced by MP-exposure. Faecal pellets containing microorganisms from altered gut microbiota and MPs might further influence microbiota of surrounding environment. Our results have demonstrated impacts of MP-exposure on mussel gut microbiota and suggested possible consequent effects on food quality, food safety, and the well-being of marine food web in the ecosystem for future studies.
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•Microplastics ingestion altered gut microbiota of the filter feeder - blue mussels.•Biofouled/weathered & high concentration MPs had greater impacts on microbiota.•Potential human pathogens were among taxa with higher abundance after MP-exposure.•Feces of MP-exposed mussels may influence microbiota of surrounding environment.
The ubiquitous pollution of the environment with microplastics, a diverse suite of contaminants, is of growing concern for science and currently receives considerable public, political, and academic ...attention. The potential impact of microplastics in the environment has prompted a great deal of research in recent years. Many diverse methods have been developed to answer different questions about microplastic pollution, from sources, transport, and fate in the environment, and about effects on humans and wildlife. These methods are often insufficiently described, making studies neither comparable nor reproducible. The proliferation of new microplastic investigations and cross-study syntheses to answer larger scale questions are hampered. This diverse group of 23 researchers think these issues can begin to be overcome through the adoption of a set of reporting guidelines. This collaboration was created using an open science framework that we detail for future use. Here, we suggest harmonized reporting guidelines for microplastic studies in environmental and laboratory settings through all steps of a typical study, including best practices for reporting materials, quality assurance/quality control, data, field sampling, sample preparation, microplastic identification, microplastic categorization, microplastic quantification, and considerations for toxicology studies. We developed three easy to use documents, a detailed document, a checklist, and a mind map, that can be used to reference the reporting guidelines quickly. We intend that these reporting guidelines support the annotation, dissemination, interpretation, reviewing, and synthesis of microplastic research. Through open access licensing (CC BY 4.0), these documents aim to increase the validity, reproducibility, and comparability of studies in this field for the benefit of the global community.
Nowadays, environmental pollution by microplastics (<5 mm; MP) is a major issue. MP are contaminating marine organisms consumed by humans. This work studied MP contamination in two bivalve species of ...commercial interest: blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) sampled on the Channel coastlines (France). In parallel, 13 plastic additives and 27 hydrophobic organic compounds (HOC) were quantified in bivalves flesh using SBSE-TD-GS-MS/MS to explore a possible relationship between their concentrations and MP contamination levels. MP were extracted using a 10% potassium hydroxide digestion method then identified by μ-Raman spectroscopy. The proportion of contaminated bivalves by MP ranged from 34 to 58%. Blue mussels and common cockles exhibited 0.76 ± 0.40 and 2.46 ± 1.16 MP/individual and between 0.15 ± 0.06 and 0.74 ± 0.35 MP/g of tissue wet weight. Some HOC and plastic additives were detected in bivalves. However, no significant Pearson or Spearman correlation was found between MP loads and plastic additives or HOC concentrations in bivalve tissues for the two species.
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•Quantification of MP and additives in two commercial bivalve species.•First study measuring MP contamination in the common cockle.•Proportion of contaminated bivalves by MP is up to 58% along the Channel.•No relationship between MP and HOC/plastic additive concentrations was found.
Microplastic contamination and pollutant levels of commercially important bivalves in France.
In the context of the harmonization of methodologies employed to isolate and count microplastics in samples or to organize ring trials tests, the use of reference materials, i.e. samples with ...controlled amount of particles is required. The method proposed here uses transparent, sealed capsules containing in-house generated microplastics as a convenient way to generate microplastic reference materials. This method is a simple approach for adding particles to samples without risk of loss during particle extraction or transporting/handling.•Low-cost and easy-to-use preparation of heterogeneous mix of microplastic reference particles•Possibility to control microplastic size, shape, and polymeric composition•Applicable to many protocols and wide range of applications on water, sediments and biota.
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Microplastics (MPs) (plastic particles < 5 mm in size) have become the most ubiquitous type of anthropogenic litter contaminating aquatic environments worldwide, and are capable of harming aquatic ...organisms and entering the food web. Microplastic research has rapidly evolved over several decades, with many studies sampling microplastic in surface waters. For sea surface sampling of MPs, different net devices have been used. But although there is an increasing number of studies using these devices to quantifying MPs in different aquatic environments, data comparison is difficult due to the lack of standardised, harmonised sampling methods and data reporting units. The Manta net device is actually the most commonly used method for sea surface sampling of MPs. The three main parts of this net are: the floating/stabilizing part, the opening mouth and the net bag, and each of them can have its own specifications. These specifications, along with the sampling methods, can be critical for the efficiency of the sampling accurate quantification of MPs in the aquatic environments. The use of different mesh sizes, inconsistency in trawling duration, speed and distance, and in the net opening dimensions, make it impossible to compare the studies between each other. This review analyzes the methodologies and characteristics of Manta nets used for MPs sampling, discussing factors that can impact the efficiency of the sampling and the quantification of MPs, and proposes recommendations in order to improve and standardize the sampling protocol.
Estuaries serve as nursery grounds for many marine fish species. However, increasing human activities within estuaries and surrounding areas lead to significant habitat quality degradation for the ...juveniles. In recent years, plastic pollution has become a global environmental issue as plastic debris are found in all aquatic environments with potential adverse impacts on marine biota. Given the important ecological role of estuaries and implications of microplastics (MP) in ecosystems, here we assess the occurrence, number, size, and polymer types of MP ingested by wild and caged juvenile European flounder (
Platichthys flesus
). We deployed caged fish for 1 month at five sites in three estuaries in the eastern English Channel. The Seine estuary, heavily impacted by manmade modifications and one of the most contaminated estuaries in Europe, was compared to two smaller estuaries (Canche and Liane) less impacted by industrial activities. We found that juvenile flounders (7–9 cm) were vulnerable to plastic ingestion. Seventy-five percent of caged fish and 58% of wild caught fish had the presence of MP items in their digestive tract. Fibers (69%) dominated in the fish’s digestive tract at all sites. An average of 2.04 ± 1.93 MP items were ingested by feral juvenile flounder and 1.67 ± 1.43 by caged juvenile flounder. For the caged fish, the three sites impacted by wastewater treatment plant (Liane, Le Havre harbor, and Rouen) were those with the highest percentage of individuals that has ingested MP items. Most of the isolated items were fibers and blue in color. Polymers identified by micro Raman spectroscopy were polycaprolactam, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyurethane. Although other environmental factors may have affected caged fish condition and mortality, we found no significant correlation with the number of ingested MP. However, the high occurrence of MP ingested by juvenile fish on nursery grounds raises concerns on their potential negative effects for fish recruitment success and population renewal. Finally, this study describes, for the first time, the feasibility of using caged juvenile fish as an assessing tool of MP contamination in estuarine nursery grounds.
For seventy years, mass plastic production and waste mismanagement have resulted in huge pollution of the environment, including the marine environment. The first mention of seafood contaminated by ...microplastics was recorded in the seventies, and to date numerous studies have been carried out on shellfish, fish and crustaceans. Based on an ad hoc corpus, the current review aims to report on the numerous practices and methodologies described so far. By examining multiple aspects including problems related to the definition of the term microplastic, contamination at the laboratory scale, sampling and isolation, and quantification and identification, the aim was to point out current limitations and the needs to improve and harmonise practices for future studies on microplastics in seafood. A final part is devoted to the minimum information for publication of microplastics studies (MIMS). Based on the aspects discussed, MIMS act as a starting point for harmonisation of analyses.
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•Need for new and more complete definition of microplastics.•Discussion on contamination prevention in the laboratory environment.•Recommendations on sampling and isolation.•Recommendations on quantification and identification.•Proposition of minimum information for publication of microplastics studies.
Producers of processed anchovies have developed hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) to guarantee the quality of their products. Nonetheless there is a lack of objective data to ...determine products’ shelf life. The quality of a product is usually established on the basis of its safety and organoleptic properties. These parameters were assessed by monitoring the profiles of volatile compounds and quantitating six biogenic amines in samples of two types of processed anchovies during their shelf life. With regard to biogenic amines, quantities were below the regulatory limits throughout shelf life, except when a temperature abuse was applied for marinated samples. Moreover, this work highlights an optimum volatile profile at 5 and 6 months of storage for salted and marinated anchovies, respectively. This is the result of a higher content of six aldehyde and nine ketone compounds, mainly from lipid oxidation.
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