Co-exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics and mercury synergistically exacerbates toxicity in rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) compared to individual exposures

IF 4.1 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY

Aquatic Toxicology Pub Date : 2025-05-19 DOI:10.1016/j.aquatox.2025.107416

Tingting Chu , Bo Xu , Fuyu Guo , Meng Zhu , Ruyi Yang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Nanoplastics (NPs) and mercury (Hg) are ubiquitous pollutants that co-occur in aquatic ecosystems. However, the interaction between NPs and Hg, particularly whether NPs affect the accumulation and in vivo biotransformation of Hg in aquatic organisms, remains unclear. The toxicity of NPs and mercuric chloride (HgCl₂), both individually and in combination at environmentally relevant concentrations, on rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) were investigated in this study. The results demonstrated that NPs increased total Hg accumulation by 33.33 % but had limited effects on methylmercury (MeHg) content and its proportional distribution in muscle tissue compared to single Hg exposure. Both NPs and Hg induced significant growth inhibition, intestinal damage, oxidative stress, and inflammatory responses in rare minnow, with endpoint-specific effect patterns. Moreover, NPs and Hg dramatically altered gut microbiota composition and co-occurrence networks, with NPs inducing more metabolic pathway changes than Hg. Notably, combined exposure exacerbated almost all toxic effects in rare minnow compared to individual exposures, indicating synergistic interactions between NPs and Hg. These findings highlight the need to consider co-existing contaminants when evaluating NP toxicity.

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与单独接触相比，聚苯乙烯纳米塑料和汞的共同暴露会协同加剧稀有鲦鱼的毒性

纳米塑料（NPs）和汞（Hg）是水生生态系统中普遍存在的污染物。然而，NPs与汞之间的相互作用，特别是NPs是否影响汞在水生生物体内的积累和生物转化，尚不清楚。本研究研究了NPs和氯化汞（HgCl2）在环境相关浓度下单独和组合对稀有鲦鱼（Gobiocypris rarus）的毒性。结果表明，与单一汞暴露相比，NPs使总汞积累增加33.33%，但对甲基汞（MeHg）含量及其在肌肉组织中的比例分布的影响有限。NPs和Hg在罕见的小鱼中均诱导了显著的生长抑制、肠道损伤、氧化应激和炎症反应，并具有终点特异性效应模式。此外，NPs和Hg显著改变了肠道微生物群组成和共生网络，NPs比Hg诱导更多的代谢途径变化。值得注意的是，与单独暴露相比，NPs和Hg的联合暴露几乎加剧了稀有小鱼的所有毒性作用，表明NPs和Hg之间存在协同作用。这些发现强调了在评估NP毒性时考虑共存污染物的必要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Aquatic Toxicology 环境科学-毒理学

CiteScore

7.10

自引率

4.40%

发文量

250

审稿时长

56 days

期刊介绍： Aquatic Toxicology publishes significant contributions that increase the understanding of the impact of harmful substances (including natural and synthetic chemicals) on aquatic organisms and ecosystems. Aquatic Toxicology considers both laboratory and field studies with a focus on marine/ freshwater environments. We strive to attract high quality original scientific papers, critical reviews and expert opinion papers in the following areas: Effects of harmful substances on molecular, cellular, sub-organismal, organismal, population, community, and ecosystem level; Toxic Mechanisms; Genetic disturbances, transgenerational effects, behavioral and adaptive responses; Impacts of harmful substances on structure, function of and services provided by aquatic ecosystems; Mixture toxicity assessment; Statistical approaches to predict exposure to and hazards of contaminants The journal also considers manuscripts in other areas, such as the development of innovative concepts, approaches, and methodologies, which promote the wider application of toxicological datasets to the protection of aquatic environments and inform ecological risk assessments and decision making by relevant authorities.