Occurrence and exposure analysis of microplastic in the gut and muscle tissue of riverine fish in Kermanshah province of Iran

This study aimed to determine the presence of MPs in the gut and muscle tissue of riverine fish collected from the Qarasu River, Kermanshah, Iran. The results highlighted that MPs were found in the gut and muscle of all fish species at an average abundance of 8.12 +/- 4.26 P/individual and 0.85 +/- 0.38 P/g muscles, respectively. High amounts of MPs were found in the range of 1-25 mu m in terms of size distribution. The properties of MPs extracted indicated that PE, PP, PS, and PA in the monotype of fiber and fragment were the most abundant plastic types and shapes found. Additionally, EAI was calculated for MPs found in the muscle. So, 174.43 and 127.19 P/kg/ bw/year (1.28 and 0.93 g/kg/bw/year), were intake by two groups of adults and children, respectively. These findings highlight the contamination of fish as a common source of marine food in home consumption and the probability of entrance into the human diet.

Automated summary

This study found microplastics in the gut and muscle tissues of riverine fish from Qarasu River in Iran, with a wide range of sizes found, mainly from plastic types such as PE, PP, PS, and PA. The presence of microplastics highlights the potential risk to human consumption of marine food from contaminated fish in home consumption.