Abstract
Although studies have already shown the effects of exposure to microplastics (MP) in different species, the effects over generations in these individuals remain poorly understood. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of polystyrene MP (spherical, 1 μm) on the responses of the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans in a multigenerational approach over five subsequent generations. MP concentrations of both 5 and 50 μg/L induced a detoxification response, increasing glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity and inducing the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation (TBARS). MP also demonstrated the ability to accumulate in the animal’s body during the 96 h of each generational exposure, and possibly, this constant interaction was the main reason for the decreased response in physiological parameters as in the exploratory behavior (body bending) of nematodes, and in the reproduction, being this last parameter most negatively affected during the five exposed generations, with a reduction of almost 50% in the last generation. These results emphasize the importance of multigenerational approaches, highlighting their advantage in the assessment of environmental contaminants.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Marcos Gelesky, Felipe Kessler, and Tito R.S.C. Junior. for their support in MP characterization.
Funding
Juliane Ventura-Lima received research productivity fellowship from the Brazilian agency Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), process number PQ 313707/2020-0. Larissa Müller and Gabriela Soares received fellowship of Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). Marcelo Estrella Josende, recipient of post-doctoral fellowship CAPES Program, Fundação de amparo à pesquisa do estado do Rio Grande do Sul (process number 21/2551-0001968-9), financed this study.
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Gabriela Corrêa Soares: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, validation, writing original draft; Marcelo Estrella Josende: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, validation, writing original draft; Larissa Müller: formal analysis, investigation, methodology; Juliane Ventura-Lima: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, validation, writing original draft, funding acquisition.
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Fig. S1
Representative SEM images of MPs (microbeads, size 1.1 μm, polystyrene from Sigma-Aldrich). (PNG 9361 kb)
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Soares, G.C., Müller, L., Josende, M.E. et al. Biochemical and physiological effects of multigenerational exposure to spheric polystyrene microplastics in Caenorhabditis elegans. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 69307–69320 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27162-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27162-3