Tracking nanoplastics in freshwater microcosms and their impacts to aquatic organisms

In this work, we used palladium-doped polystyrene NPLs (PS-NPLs with a primary size of 286 +/- 4 nm) with an irregular surface morphology which allowed for particle tracking and evaluation of their toxicity on two primary producers (cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp. PCC7120 and green algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) and one primary consumer (crustacean, Daphnia magna). the concentration range for Anabaena and C. reinhardtii was from 0.01 to 1000 mg/L and for D. magna, the range was from 7.5 to 120 mg/L.EC50 s ranged from 49 mg NPLs/L for D. magna (48hEC50 s) to 248 mg NPLs/L (72hEC50 s for C. reinhardtii). PS-NPLs induced dose-dependent reactive oxygen species overproduction, membrane damage and metabolic alterations. To shed light on the environmental fate of PS-NPLs, the short-term distribution of PS-NPLs under static (using lake water and sediments) and stirring (using river water and sediments) conditions was studied at laboratory scale. The results showed that

Automated summary

In this study, palladium-doped polystyrene NPLs (PS-NPLs) with irregular surface morphology were used to assess their toxicity on cyanobacterium, green algae, and crustacean. The EC50 concentration for D. magna was 49 mg NPLs/L, while for C. reinhardtii it was 248 mg NPLs/L. PS-NPLs induced reactive oxygen species overproduction, membrane damage, and metabolic alterations in a dose-dependent manner. The distribution of PS-NPLs under static and stirring conditions was studied to understand their environmental fate.