The environment is polluted by microplastics worldwide.
The environment is polluted by microplastics worldwide. The tiny particles enter food chains, and thereby the digestive systems of animals and humans; moreover, they can be inhaled. Instead of being excreted, small microplastics can be incorporated into the body tissue. A research team at the University of Bayreuth has now discovered that microplastic particles find their way into living cells more easily if they were exposed to natural aquatic environments, i.e. fresh water and seawater. Biomolecules occurring in the water are deposited on the microplastic surfaces, which promote the internalization of the particles into cells. The researchers have presented their results in the journal "Science Advances".
The interdisciplinary research team led by Prof. Dr. Christian Laforsch (Animal Ecology) and Prof. Dr. Holger Kress (Biological Physics) focused on microplastic particles with a diameter of around three micrometres for the new study. Particles of this size are often found in the environment. To simulate their exposure in the environment, some microplastic particles were placed in fresh water from an artificial pond, while other microplastic particles were placed in salt water from a marine aquarium. Biomolecules were deposited on the surfaces of these particles within two weeks exposure time.
"Spectroscopic examinations indicate that these biomolecules are carbohydrates, amino acids, nucleic acids, and proteins. We are talking about an 'eco-corona' that forms on the microplastic particles in a natural environment," explains Anja Ramsperger M.Sc., first author of the new study and PhD student at the Department of Animal Ecology I and in the Biological Physics group.
Read more at University of Bayreuth
Image: Anja Ramsperger M. Sc. uses a fluorescence microscope to examine the cellular uptake of microplastic particles from fresh or seawater. (Photo: UBT. / Chr. Wissler)
