Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Long-term exposure to nanoplastics reduces life-time in Daphnia magna

Kelpsiene, Egle LU ; Torstensson, Oscar ; Ekvall, Mikael T. LU ; Hansson, L-A LU orcid and Cedervall, Tommy LU (2020) In Scientific Reports 10.
Abstract
Plastics are widely used in todays society leading to an accelerating amount of plastic waste entering natural ecosystems. Over time these waste products degrade to micro- and, eventually, nanoplastic particles. Therefore, the break-down of plastics may become a critical threat to aquatic ecosystems and several short term studies have demonstrated acute toxicity of nanoplastics on aquatic organisms. However, our knowledge about effects of chronic or life-time exposure on freshwater invertebrates remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate results from life-time exposure (103 days) of a common freshwater invertebrate, Daphnia magna, exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of polystyrene nanoparticles. 53 nm positively charged aminated polystyrene... (More)
Plastics are widely used in todays society leading to an accelerating amount of plastic waste entering natural ecosystems. Over time these waste products degrade to micro- and, eventually, nanoplastic particles. Therefore, the break-down of plastics may become a critical threat to aquatic ecosystems and several short term studies have demonstrated acute toxicity of nanoplastics on aquatic organisms. However, our knowledge about effects of chronic or life-time exposure on freshwater invertebrates remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate results from life-time exposure (103 days) of a common freshwater invertebrate, Daphnia magna, exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of polystyrene nanoparticles. 53 nm positively charged aminated polystyrene particles were lethal at concentration of 0.32 mg/L which is two magnitudes lower than previously used concentrations in short-term (24 h) tests. At this concentration the life-time of individuals was shortened almost three times. Negatively charged carboxylated 26 and 62 nm polystyrene particles, previously demonstrated to be non-toxic at 25 and 50 mg/L concentrations in short-term tests, were toxic to D. magna at all concentrations used in our long-term study. Although total reproductive output was not significantly affected at increasing concentrations of polystyrene nanoparticles, there was a decreasing trend in the number of offspring over their life-time. Hence, in order to understand how the potential future environmental problem of nanoplastic particles may affect biota, long-term or life-time studies resembling environmental concentrations should be performed in order to provide information for predictions of future scenarios in natural aquatic environments. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Reports
volume
10
article number
5979
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85083023157
  • pmid:32249839
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-63028-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4f8a5b7b-74c6-4127-ba4a-85e7179706fe
date added to LUP
2020-04-08 16:45:23
date last changed
2023-11-20 02:29:46
@article{4f8a5b7b-74c6-4127-ba4a-85e7179706fe,
  abstract     = {{Plastics are widely used in todays society leading to an accelerating amount of plastic waste entering natural ecosystems. Over time these waste products degrade to micro- and, eventually, nanoplastic particles. Therefore, the break-down of plastics may become a critical threat to aquatic ecosystems and several short term studies have demonstrated acute toxicity of nanoplastics on aquatic organisms. However, our knowledge about effects of chronic or life-time exposure on freshwater invertebrates remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate results from life-time exposure (103 days) of a common freshwater invertebrate, Daphnia magna, exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of polystyrene nanoparticles. 53 nm positively charged aminated polystyrene particles were lethal at concentration of 0.32 mg/L which is two magnitudes lower than previously used concentrations in short-term (24 h) tests. At this concentration the life-time of individuals was shortened almost three times. Negatively charged carboxylated 26 and 62 nm polystyrene particles, previously demonstrated to be non-toxic at 25 and 50 mg/L concentrations in short-term tests, were toxic to D. magna at all concentrations used in our long-term study. Although total reproductive output was not significantly affected at increasing concentrations of polystyrene nanoparticles, there was a decreasing trend in the number of offspring over their life-time. Hence, in order to understand how the potential future environmental problem of nanoplastic particles may affect biota, long-term or life-time studies resembling environmental concentrations should be performed in order to provide information for predictions of future scenarios in natural aquatic environments.}},
  author       = {{Kelpsiene, Egle and Torstensson, Oscar and Ekvall, Mikael T. and Hansson, L-A and Cedervall, Tommy}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Long-term exposure to nanoplastics reduces life-time in Daphnia magna}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63028-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41598-020-63028-1}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}