Characterizing microplastic hazards: which concentration metrics and particle characteristics are most informative for understanding toxicity in aquatic organisms?

There is definitive evidence that microplastics, defined as plastic particles less than 5 mm in size, are ubiquitous in the environment and can cause harm to aquatic organisms. These findings have prompted legislators and environmental regulators to seek out strategies for managing risk. However, microplastics are also an incredibly diverse contaminant suite, comprising a complex mixture of physical and chemical characteristics (e.g., sizes, morphologies, polymer types, chemical additives, sorbed chemicals, and impurities), making it challenging to identify which particle characteristics might influence the associated hazards to aquatic life. In addition, there is a lack of consensus on how microplastic concentrations should be reported. This not only makes it difficult to compare concentrations across studies, but it also begs the question as to which concentration metric may be most informative for hazard characterization. Thus, an international panel of experts was convened to identify 1) which concentration metrics (e.g., mass or count per unit of volume or mass) are most informative for the development of health-based thresholds and risk assessment and 2) which microplastic characteristics best inform toxicological concerns. Based on existing knowledge, it is recommended that microplastic concentrations in toxicity tests are calculated from both mass and count at minimum, though ideally researchers should report additional metrics, such as volume and surface area, which may be more informative for specific toxicity mechanisms. Regarding particle characteristics, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that particle size is a critical determinant of toxicological outcomes, particularly for the mechanisms of food dilution and tissue translocation

Is the meiofauna a good indicator for climate change and anthropogenic impacts?

Our planet is changing, and one of the most pressing challenges facing the scientific community revolves around understanding how ecological communities respond to global changes. From coastal to deep-sea ecosystems, ecologists are exploring new areas of research to find model organisms that help predict the future of life on our planet. Among the different categories of organisms, meiofauna offer several advantages for the study of marine benthic ecosystems. This paper reviews the advances in the study of meiofauna with regard to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. Four taxonomic groups are valuable for predicting global changes: foraminifers (especially calcareous forms), nematodes, copepods and ostracods. Environmental variables are fundamental in the interpretation of meiofaunal patterns and multistressor experiments are more informative than single stressor ones, revealing complex ecological and biological interactions. Global change has a general negative effect on meiofauna, with important consequences on benthic food webs. However, some meiofaunal species can be favoured by the extreme conditions induced by global change, as they can exhibit remarkable physiological adaptations. This review highlights the need to incorporate studies on taxonomy, genetics and function of meiofaunal taxa into global change impact research

Development and application of a health-based framework for informing regulatory action in relation to exposure of microplastic particles in California drinking water

Microplastics have been documented in drinking water, but their effects on human health from ingestion, or the concentrations at which those effects begin to manifest, are not established. Here, we report on the outcome of a virtual expert workshop conducted between October 2020 and October 2021 in which a comprehensive review of mammalian hazard studies was conducted. A key objective of this assessment was to evaluate the feasibility and confidence in deriving a human health-based threshold value to inform development of the State of California’s monitoring and management strategy for microplastics in drinking water. A tiered approach was adopted to evaluate the quality and reliability of studies identified from a review of the peer-reviewed scientific literature. A total of 41 in vitro and 31 in vivo studies using mammals were identified and subjected to a Tier 1 screening and prioritization exercise, which was based on an evaluation of how each of the studies addressed various quality criteria. Prioritized studies were identified largely based on their application and reporting of dose–response relationships. Given that methods for extrapolating between in vitro and in vivo systems are currently lacking, only oral exposure in vivo studies were identified as fit-for-purpose within the context of this workshop. Twelve mammalian toxicity studies were prioritized and subjected to a Tier 2 qualitative evaluation by external experts. Of the 12 studies, 7 report adverse effects on male and female reproductive systems, while 5 reported effects on various other physiological endpoints. It is notable that the majority of studies (83%) subjected to Tier 2 evaluation report results from exposure to a single polymer type (polystyrene spheres), representing a size range of 0.040 to 20 µm. No single study met all desired quality criteria, but collectively toxicological effects with respect to biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress represented a consistent trend. While it was possible to derive a conservative screening level to inform monitoring activities, it was not possible to extrapolate a human–health-based threshold value for microplastics, which is largely due to concerns regarding the relative quality and reliability of current data, but also due to the inability to extrapolate data from studies using monodisperse plastic particles, such as polystyrene spheres to an environmentally relevant exposure of microplastics. Nevertheless, a conservative screening level value was used to estimate a volume of drinking water (1000 L) that could be used to support monitoring activities and improve our overall understanding of exposure in California’s drinking water. In order to increase confidence in our ability to derive a human–health-based threshold value in the future, several research recommendations are provided, with an emphasis towards strengthening how toxicity studies should be conducted in the future and an improved understanding of human exposure to microplastics, insights critically important to better inform future risk assessments

Influence of gametogenesis pattern and sex on paralytic shellfish toxin levels in triploid Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas exposed to a natural bloom of Alexandrium minutum

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.. This study investigated the effect of gametogenesis pattern and sex on levels of paralytic shellfish toxins (PST) accumulated by triploid oysters Crassostrea gigas exposed to a natural bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum in the Bay of Brest (Western Brittany, France), over the summer 2014. Toxin accumulation in oysters was proposed to be influenced by the proportion of energy allocated to reproduction versus other metabolisms, as proposed by Haberkorn et al. (2010). Thus, we hypothesized that triploid oysters with different gametogenesis patterns (α or β, producing respectively numerous gametes or rare gametes) could result in differences in toxin accumulation. Toxin level could also be different according to the gender of the oysters. To test these hypotheses, PST levels were measured in the digestive gland of oysters using an ELISA method. Sex, gametogenesis stage and pattern (α or β) of the triploid oysters were determined by histology. Males (24%), females (38%) and hermaphrodites (38%), including synchronous or successive hermaphrodites were represented among the sampled oysters. All of them were at mature stage (III) of gametogenesis. Both α (46%) and β (54%) patterns were represented in the sample set. In these oysters, PST levels appeared independent from sex and gametogenesis pattern. These results suggest that, in triploid oysters, PST accumulation is not influenced by energy allocated to reproduction. Statement of relevance: This study appears to be the first to investigate toxin levels depending on gametogenesis pattern in triploid oysters.This study highlighted that triploid oysters were divided into two classes, α (triploid oysters that maturate with unlocked germ cells and have a consequent number of gametes) and β (triploid oysters that display strongly reduced number of gametes and locked gonial mitosis), with the latter class subdivided into two categories: β1, which presents no germinal cell lineage, and β2, which presents germinal cell lineage.This study showed that toxin levels in the digestive glands of triploids were not significantly different, neither between gametogenesis patterns nor between sexes. Additionally, despite the different patterns of gametogenesis in the triploid oysters of the present study, no difference in toxin levels accumulated in the digestive glands was detected between α and β oysters, suggesting that reproductive investment in triploid oysters does not influence toxin accumulation

A Living Tool for the Continued Exploration of Microplastic Toxicity

Throughout the past decade, many studies have reported adverse effects in biota following microplastic exposure. Yet, the field is still emerging as the current understanding of microplastic toxicity is limited. At the same time, recent legislative mandates have required environmental regulators to devise strategies to mitigate microplastic pollution and develop health-based thresholds for the protection of human and ecosystem health. The current publication rate also presents a unique challenge as scientists, environmental managers, and other communities may find it difficult to keep up with microplastic research as it rapidly evolves. At present, there is no tool that compiles and synthesizes the data from these studies to allow for visualization, interpretation, or analysis. Here, we present the Toxicity of Microplastics Explorer (ToMEx), an open access database and open source accompanying R Shiny web application that enables users to upload, search, visualize, and analyze microplastic toxicity data. Though ToMEx was originally created to facilitate the development of health-based thresholds to support California legislations, maintaining the database by the greater scientific community will be invaluable to furthering research and informing policies globally. The database and web applications may be accessed at https://microplastics.sccwrp.org/

Reporting Guidelines to Increase the Reproducibility and Comparability of Research on Microplastics

The ubiquitous pollution of the environment with microplastics - a diverse suite of contaminants - is of growing concern for science and currently receives considerable public, political, and academic attention. The potential impact of microplastics in the environment has prompted a great deal of research in recent years. Many diverse methods have been developed to answer different questions about microplastic pollution, from sources, transport, and fate in the environment, and about effects on humans and wildlife. These methods are often insufficiently described, making studies neither comparable nor reproducible. The proliferation of new microplastic investigations and cross-study syntheses to answer larger scale questions are hampered. We - a diverse group of 23 researchers - think these issues can begin to be overcome through the adoption of a set of reporting guidelines. This collaboration was created using an open science framework that we detail for future use. Here, we suggest harmonized reporting guidelines for microplastic studies in environmental and laboratory settings through all steps of a typical study, including best practices for reporting materials, quality assurance / quality control, data, field sampling, sample preparation, microplastic identification, microplastic categorization, microplastic quantification, and considerations for toxicology studies. We developed three easy to use documents - a detailed document, a checklist, and a mind map - that can be used to quickly reference the reporting guidelines. It is our intention that these reporting guidelines support the annotation, dissemination, interpretation, reviewing, and synthesis of microplastic research. Through open access licensing (CC BY 4.0), these documents aim to increase the validity, reproducibility, and comparability of studies in this field for the benefit of the global community