4.6 Article

Metal-doping of nanoplastics enables accurate assessment of uptake and effects on Gammarus pulex

Journal

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE-NANO
Volume 8, Issue 6, Pages 1761-1770

Publisher

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/d1en00068c

Keywords

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Funding

  1. Dutch Technology Foundation TTW [13940]
  2. KWR
  3. RIKILT
  4. Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment
  5. Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport
  6. Wageningen Food and Biobased Research
  7. STOWA
  8. Swiss National Science Foundation, Ambizione [PZP002_168105]
  9. WMR
  10. NVWA
  11. RIWA
  12. water board Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland
  13. water board Zuiderzeeland
  14. water board Rijn en IJssel
  15. water board Vechtstromen
  16. water board Scheldestromen
  17. water board Aa en Maas
  18. water board de Dommel
  19. water board Rivierenland

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This study investigated the uptake and chronic effects of palladium-doped nanoplastics on freshwater amphipods. While a positive linear relationship between NP uptake and sediment concentration was observed, no significant effects were found on survival or growth of the amphipods. A biodynamic model showed bioaccumulation occurring in two kinetic compartments with a trophic transfer factor in the gut of 0.031. Using metal-doped plastics may offer opportunities for precise quantification of NP accumulation and exposure in risk assessment studies.
Because of the difficulty of measuring nanoplastics (NP), the use of NPs doped with trace metals has been proposed as a promising approach to detect NP in environmental media and biota. In the present study, the freshwater amphipod Gammarus pulex were exposed to palladium (Pd)-doped NP via natural sediment at six spiking concentrations (0, 0.3, 1, 3, 10 and 30 g plastic per kg of sediment dry weight) with the aim of assessing their uptake and chronic effects using 28 days standardized single species toxicity tests. NP concentrations were quantified based on Pd concentrations measured by ICP-MS on digests of the exposed organisms and faecal pellets excreted during a post-exposure 24 hour depuration period. Additionally, NP concentrations were measured in sediments and water to demonstrate accuracy of NP dosing and to quantify the resuspension of NP from the sediment caused by the organisms. A significant positive linear relationship between the uptake of NP by G. pulex and the concentration of NP in the sediments was observed, yet no statistically significant effects were found on the survival or growth of G. pulex. A biodynamic model fitted well to the data and suggested bioaccumulation would occur in two kinetic compartments, the major one being reversible with rapid depuration to clean medium. Model fitting yielded a mass based trophic transfer factor (TTF), conceptually similar to the traditional biota sediment accumulation factor, for NP in the gut of 0.031. This value is close to a TTF value of 0.025 that was obtained for much larger microplastic particles in a similar experiment performed previously. Mechanistically, this suggests that ingestion of plastic is limited by the total volume of ingested particles. We demonstrated that using metal-doped plastics provides opportunities for precise quantification of NP accumulation and exposure in fate and effect studies, which can be a clear benefit for NP risk assessment.

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