Kit Granby, Sandra Rainieri, Rie Romme Rasmussen, Michiel J.J. Kotterman, Jens Jørgen Sloth,
Tommy Licht Cederberg, Alex Barranco, António Marques, Bodil Katrine Larsen,

The influence of microplastics and halogenated contaminants in feed on toxicokinetics and gene expression in European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax),

Environmental Research,
Volume 164,
2018,
Pages 430-443,
ISSN 0013-9351,

Abstract:

When microplastics pollute fish habitats, it may be ingested
by fish, thereby contaminating fish with sorbed contaminants. The
present study investigates how combinations of halogenated contaminants
and microplastics associated with feed are able to alter toxicokinetics
in European seabass and affect the fish. Microplastic particles (2%)
were added to the feed either with sorbed contaminants or as a mixture
of clean microplastics and chemical contaminants, and compared to feed
containing contaminants without microplastics. For the contaminated
microplastic diet, the accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in fish was significantly higher,
increasing up to 40 days of accumulation and then reversing to values
comparable to the other diets at the end of accumulation. The
significant gene expression results of liver (cyp1a, il1β, gstα) after
40 days of exposure indicate that microplastics might indeed exacerbate
the toxic effects (liver metabolism, immune system, oxidative stress) of
some chemical contaminants sorbed to microplastics. Seabass quickly
metabolised BDE99 to BDE47 by debromination, probably mediated by
deiodinase enzymes, and unlike other contaminants, this metabolism was
unaffected by the presence of microplastics. For the other PCBs and
BFRs, the elimination coefficients were significantly lower in fish fed
the diet with contaminants sorbed to microplastic compared to the other
diets. The results indicate that microplastics affects liver
detoxification and lipid distribution, both of which affect the
concentration of contaminants.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c3uQVivv0FV2n_yYbEAatccNUGlVjMdo
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.02.035.(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935117313610)