Abstract
The marine environment is increasingly polluted by anthropogenic wastes, notably plastic debris. This debris breaks down into smaller pieces, known as microplastics. When consumed by marine organisms, microplastics cause various physiological effects. In this study, we sought to determine a link between ingested microplastics and cytochrome P450-1A (CYP1A) expression in fish liver. To achieve this goal, we collected pinfish from five sites in Lower Laguna Madre (LLM, a large coastal lagoon), analyzed stomach contents, excised liver tissues, and performed immunohistochemical analysis to determine CYP1A expression. Microplastics were not discovered in the stomach/intestine of pinfish, though plastic debris was present at various stages of decomposition within sampling sites. Hepatic CYP1A expression was significantly higher in pinfish collected from four of five sampling sites when compared to fish in laboratory conditions. These results imply that pinfish, as well as other organisms, may be exposed to pollutants other than microplastics in LLM.
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Data availability
The data of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Abbreviations
- CYP1A:
-
Cytochrome P450-1A
- PCBs:
-
Polychlorinated biphenyls
- PCDDs:
-
Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins
- PCDFs:
-
Polychlorinated dibenzofurans
- BPA:
-
Bisphenol A
- PAHs:
-
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Texas Park & Wildlife Department for allowing us to collect pinfish, and David Tran, UTRGV, for the valuable comments and suggestions on the manuscript. We would also like to thank and greatly appreciate three anonymous reviewers for providing their valuable suggestions and constructive comments on the manuscript.
Funding
This study was supported by grants from the NOAA marine debris education program to Abdullah Faiz Rahman (Clean Valley-Clean Gulf: A Marine Debris Prevention Program for the Rio Grande Valley, grant no. NA15NOS4630153) and in part by the start-up fund and UTRGV College of Science SEED grant (grant no. 210000371) to Md Saydur Rahman.
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Md Saydur Rahman gave the research idea. Md Saydur Rahman and Abdullah Faiz Rahman supervised research. Stephanie DuBois conducted field and laboratory studies and collected and analyzed data. Stephanie DuBois and Md Saydur Rahman designed the figures. Stephanie DuBois and Brittney Lacy drafted the manuscript. Stephanie DuBois, Brittney Lacy, Abdullah Faiz Rahman, and Md Saydur Rahman edited and reviewed the manuscript.
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Fish were collected in the LLM lagoon according to the approved wild-caught species regulations of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (permit number: SPR-0913-125). Fish were transported with aerated seawater to UTRGV Coastal campus lab and treated in accordance with the standard handling and experiment protocol approved by the UTRGV Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol number: 2016-010-IACUC).
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DuBois, S., Lacy, B., Rahman, A.F. et al. Elevated CYP1A expression detected in pinfish collected from a coastal lagoon in the southern Texas Gulf Coast: indicative of exposure to microplastics or pollutants?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 32066–32073 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14351-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14351-1