Effects of nanoplastics and microplastics on toxicity, bioaccumulation, and environmental fate of phenanthrene in fresh water
Abstract
Contamination of fine plastic particles (FPs), including micrometer to millimeter plastics (MPs) and nanometer plastics (NPs), in the environment has caught great concerns. FPs are strong adsorbents for hydrophobic toxic pollutants and may affect their fate and toxicity in the environment; however, such information is still rare. We studied joint toxicity of FPs with phenanthrene to Daphnia magna and effects of FPs on the environmental fate and bioaccumulation of 14 C-phenanthrene in fresh water. Within the five sizes particles we tested (from 50 nm to 10 μm), 50-nm NPs showed significant toxicity and physical damage to D. magna. The joint toxicity of 50-nm NPs and phenanthrene to D. magna showed an additive effect. During a 14-days incubation, the presence of NPs significantly enhanced bioaccumulation of phenanthrene-derived residues in daphnid body and inhibited the dissipation and transformation of phenanthrene in the medium, while 10-μm MPs did not show significant effects on the bioaccumulation, dissipation, and transformation of phenanthrene. The differences may be attributed to higher adsorption of phenanthrene on 50-nm NPs than 10-μm MPs. Our findings underlined the high potential ecological risks of FPs, and suggested that NPs should be given more concerns, in terms of their interaction with hydrophobic pollutants in the environment.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Daphnia magna exposed to nanoplastics showed increased toxicity, physical damage and higher mortality rates as a function of nanoplastic exposure.
“The results of the studies have shown an increased toxicity, physical damage and higher mortality rates of Daphnia as a function of nanoplastic exposure.”
From The fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview (2021) · cites this paper as [154]
Cites
Microplastics in the marine environment
Andrady, A. L. (2011) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.05.030 · Cited by 8,105 · see citing works
Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments
Barnes, D. K. A., Galgani, F., Thompson, R. C., & Barlaz, M. (2009) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0205 · Cited by 6,126 · see citing works
Culture of Phytoplankton for Feeding Marine Invertebrates
Guillard, R. R. L. (1975) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-8714-9_3 · Cited by 5,344 · see citing works
Accumulation of Microplastic on Shorelines Woldwide: Sources and Sinks
Browne, M. A., Crump, P., Niven, S. J., Teuten, E. L., Tonkin, A., Galloway, T. S., & Thompson, R. C. (2011) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es201811s · Cited by 4,838 · see citing works
Microplastic ingestion by zooplankton
Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Fileman, E., Halsband, C., Goodhead, R., Moger, J., & Galloway, T. S. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es400663f · Cited by 2,763 · see citing works
Eerkes-Medrano, D., Thompson, R. C., & Aldridge, D. C. (2015) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.02.012 · Cited by 2,638 · see citing works
Applications and societal benefits of plastics
Andrady, A. L., & Neal, M. A. (2009) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0304 · Cited by 2,464 · see citing works
Browne, M. A., Dissanayake, A., Galloway, T. S., Lowe, D. M., & Thompson, R. C. (2008) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es800249a · Cited by 2,263 · see citing works
Plastic Resin Pellets as a Transport Medium for Toxic Chemicals in the Marine Environment
Mato, Y., Isobe, T., Takada, H., Kanehiro, H., OHTAKE, C., & Kaminuma, T. (2000) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es0010498 · Cited by 1,898 · see citing works
von Moos, N., Burkhardt-Holm, P., & Köhler, A. (2012) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es302332w · Cited by 1,697 · see citing works
Pollutants bioavailability and toxicological risk from microplastics to marine mussels
Avio, C. G., Gorbi, S., Milan, M., Benedetti, M., Fattorini, D., d'Errico, G., Pauletto, M., Bargelloni, L., & Regoli, F. (2015) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2014.12.021 · Cited by 1,413 · see citing works
Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Fileman, E., Halsband, C., & Galloway, T. S. (2015) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es504525u · Cited by 1,308 · see citing works
Plastic ingestion by planktivorous fishes in the North Pacific central gyre
Boerger, C. M., Lattin, G. L., Moore, S. L., & Moore, C. J. (2010) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.08.007 · Cited by 1,273 · see citing works
Culture of Marine Invertebrate Animals
Pullin, R. S. V. (1976) · Biochemical Society Transactions · doi:10.1042/bst0040953 · Cited by 1,243 · see citing works
Browne, M. A., Niven, S. J., Galloway, T. S., Rowland, S. J., & Thompson, R. C. (2013) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.10.012 · Cited by 1,160 · see citing works
Nanoplastic Affects Growth of <i>S. obliquus</i> and Reproduction of <i>D. magna</i>
Besseling, E., Wang, B., Lürling, M., & Koelmans, A. A. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es503001d · Cited by 1,138 · see citing works
Besseling, E., Wegner, A., Foekema, E. M., van den Heuvel-Greve, M. J., & Koelmans, A. A. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es302763x · Cited by 1,012 · see citing works
Plastic contamination in the decapod crustacean Nephrops norvegicus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Murray, F., & Cowie, P. R. (2011) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.03.032 · Cited by 931 · see citing works
Lee, K.-W., Shim, W. J., Kwon, O. Y., & Kang, J.-H. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es401932b · Cited by 923 · see citing works
Persistent organic pollutants carried by synthetic polymers in the ocean environment.
Rios, L., Moore, C., & Jones, P. (2007) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.03.022 · Cited by 886 · see citing works
Organic micropollutants in marine plastics debris from the open ocean and remote and urban beaches
Hirai, H., Takada, H., Ogata, Y., Yamashita, R., Mizukawa, K., Saha, M., Kwan, C. S., Moore, C. J., Gray, H. E., Laursen, D., et al. (2011) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.06.004 · Cited by 862 · see citing works
Oliveira, M., Ribeiro, A., Hylland, K., & Guilhermino, L. (2013) · Ecological Indicators · doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.06.019 · Cited by 722 · see citing works
Environment and Cancer: Who Are Susceptible?
Perera, F. P. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.278.5340.1068 · Cited by 638 · see citing works
Nano-plastics in the aquatic environment
Mattsson, K., Hansson, L., & Cedervall, T. (2015) · Environmental Science Processes & Impacts · doi:10.1039/c5em00227c · Cited by 605 · see citing works
Altered Behavior, Physiology, and Metabolism in Fish Exposed to Polystyrene Nanoparticles
Mattsson, K., Ekvall, M. T., Hansson, L.-A., Linse, S., Malmendal, A., & Cedervall, T. (2015) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es5053655 · Cited by 581 · see citing works
Sorption capacity of plastic debris for hydrophobic organic chemicals
Lee, H., Shim, W. J., & Kwon, J. (2013) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.023 · Cited by 574 · see citing works
Oberdörster, E., Zhu, S., Blickley, T. M., McClellan‐Green, P. D., & Haasch, M. L. (2005) · Carbon · doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2005.11.008 · Cited by 506 · see citing works
Chua, E. M., Shimeta, J., Nugegoda, D., Morrison, P. D., & Clarke, B. O. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es405717z · Cited by 494 · see citing works
Zhang, Y., Tao, S., Shen, H., & Ma, J. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0905756106 · Cited by 462 · see citing works
Plastic ingestion by mesopelagic fishes in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
Davison, P., & Asch, R. G. (2011) · Marine Ecology Progress Series · doi:10.3354/meps09142 · Cited by 426 · see citing works
Elendt, B.-P., & Bias, W. R. (1990) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/0043-1354(90)90180-e · Cited by 379 · see citing works
Acute toxicities of six manufactured nanomaterial suspensions to Daphnia magna
Zhu, X., Zhu, L., Chen, Y., & Tian, S. (2008) · Journal of Nanoparticle Research · doi:10.1007/s11051-008-9426-8 · Cited by 339 · see citing works
Biological Uptake and Depuration of Carbon Nanotubes by Daphnia magna
Petersen, E. J., Akkanen, J., Kukkonen, J. V. K., & Weber, W. J. J. (2009) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es8029363 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Ability of 16 priority PAHs to be directly cytotoxic to a cell line from the rainbow trout gill
Schirmer, K., Dixon, D. G., Greenberg, B. M., & Bols, N. C. (1998) · Toxicology · doi:10.1016/s0300-483x(98)00030-4 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Baztan, J., Carrasco, A., Chouinard, O., Cleaud, M., Gabaldon, J. E., Huck, T., Jaffrès, L., Jorgensen, B., Miguélez, A., Christine Paillard, A., et al. (2014) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.12.052 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Smith, K. E. C., Dom, N., Blust, R., et al. (2010) · Aquatic Toxicology · doi:10.1016/j.aquatox.2010.01.007 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Biological Uptake and Depuration of Radio-labeled Graphene byDaphnia magna
Guo, X., Dong, S., Petersen, E. J., et al. (2013) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es403230u · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Environmental chemistry: green chemistry and pollutants in ecosystems
(2005) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.42-6497 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
TiO2 Nanoparticles Act As a Carrier of Cd Bioaccumulation in the Ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila
Yang, W.-W., Wang, Y., Huang, B., et al. (2014) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es500694t · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Petersen, E. J., Pinto, R. A., Mai, D. J., et al. (2010) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es1030239 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Hartmann, N. B., Legros, S., von der Kammer, F., et al. (2012) · Aquatic Toxicology · doi:10.1016/j.aquatox.2012.03.008 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Xia, X., Yu, H. W., Yang, Z. F., et al. (2006) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.075 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Field Measurement of Diffusional Mass Transfer of HOCs at the Sediment-Water Interface
Eek, E., Cornelissen, G., & Breedveld, G. D. (2010) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es100818w · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Pakarinen, K., Petersen, E. J., Alvila, L., et al. (2013) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1002/etc.2175 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Zhang, X., Xia, X., Dong, J., et al. (2013) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.10.086 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Effect of structural composition of humic acids on the sorption of a branched nonylphenol isomer
Li, C., Berns, A. E., Schäffer, A., et al. (2011) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.03.057 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Binding of Endocrine Disrupters and Herbicide Metabolites to Soil Humic Substances
Höllrigl-Rosta, A., Vinken, R., & Schäffer, A. (2005) · Environmental Chemistry · doi:10.1007/3-540-26531-7_47 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
de Sá, L. C., Oliveira, M., Ribeiro, F., Rocha, T. L., & Futter, M. N. (2018) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.207 · Cited by 1,316 · see citing works
Amelia, T. S. M., Khalik, W. M. A. W. M., Ong, M. C., Shao, Y. T., Pan, H.-J., & Bhubalan, K. (2021) · Progress in Earth and Planetary Science · doi:10.1186/s40645-020-00405-4 · Cited by 641 · see citing works
Micro- and nanoplastic toxicity on aquatic life: Determining factors
Kögel, T., Bjorøy, Ø., Toto, B., Bienfait, A. M., & Sanden, M. (2020) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136050 · Cited by 518 · see citing works
Sangkham, S., Faikhaw, O., Munkong, N., Sakunkoo, P., Arunlertaree, C., Chavali, M., Mousazadeh, M., & Tiwari, A. (2022) · Marine Pollution Bulletin · doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113832 · Cited by 465 · see citing works
Al-Sid-Cheikh, M., Rowland, S. J., Stevenson, K., Rouleau, C., Henry, T. B., & Thompson, R. C. (2018) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b05266 · Cited by 397 · see citing works
Menéndez-Pedriza, A., & Jaumot, J. (2020) · Toxics · doi:10.3390/toxics8020040 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
The fate of plastic in the ocean environment – a minireview
Wayman, C., & Niemann, H. (2021) · Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts · doi:10.1039/d0em00446d · Cited by 325 · see citing works
Nanoplastics formed during the mechanical breakdown of daily-use polystyrene products
Ekvall, M. T., Lundqvist, M., Kelpsiene, E., Šileikis, E., Gunnarsson, S. B., & Cedervall, T. (2019) · Nanoscale Advances · doi:10.1039/c8na00210j · Cited by 304 · see citing works
Frydkjær, C. K., Iversen, N., & Roslev, P. (2017) · Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology · doi:10.1007/s00128-017-2186-3 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Effects of inorganic ions and natural organic matter on the aggregation of nanoplastics
Cai, L., Hu, L., Shi, H., Ye, J., Zhang, Y., & Kim, H. (2018) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.01.052 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
El Hadri, H., Gigault, J., Maxit, B., Grassl, B., & Reynaud, S. (2020) · NanoImpact · doi:10.1016/j.impact.2019.100206 · Cited by 258 · see citing works
Polystyrene microplastics ingestion induced behavioral effects to the cladoceran Daphnia magna
De Felice, B., Sabatini, V., Antenucci, S., Gattoni, G., Santo, N., Bacchetta, R., Ortenzi, M. A., & Parolini, M. (2019) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.05.115 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Effects of ingested polystyrene microplastics on brine shrimp, Artemia parthenogenetica
Wang, Y., Zhang, D., Zhang, M., Mu, J., Ding, G., Mao, Z., Cao, Y., Jin, F., Cong, Y., Wang, L., et al. (2019) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.024 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Rehse, S., Kloas, W., & Zarfl, C. (2018) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph15020280 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Scherer, C., Wolf, R., Völker, J., Stock, F., Brennhold, N., Reifferscheid, G., & Wagner, M. (2020) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134604 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Guilhermino, L., Martins, A., Cunha, S., & Fernandes, J. O. (2021) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147082 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Nogueira, D. J., Silva, A. C. D. O. D., da Silva, M. L. N., Vicentini, D. S., & Matias, W. G. (2022) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151360 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Liu, Q., Liu, L., Huang, J., Gu, L., Sun, Y., Zhang, L., Lyu, K., & Yang, Z. (2022) · Journal of Hazardous Materials · doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127913 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Cozzolino, L., Nicastro, K. R., McQuaid, C. D., Halldórsson, H. P., Lima, F. P., & Zardi, G. I. (2025) · Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety · doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2025.118829 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Polat, C., Yağcılar, Ç., & Yardımcı, M. (2025) · International Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences · doi:10.29132/ijpas.1811854
- Authors
- Ma, Y., Huang, A., Cao, S., Sun, F., Wang, L., Guo, H., & Ji, R.
- Affiliations
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Ji, Rong
- Venue
- Environmental Pollution
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-12
- Volume
- 219
- Pages
- 166-173
- ISSN
- 0269-7491 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2546045035
- Cited by
- 616
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 73 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 99 · 2021: 90 · 2020: 92 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 9
- FWCI
- 20.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Environmental Pollution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- gs1:National Natural Science Foundation of China (21407075)
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2014M561624)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Keywords
- nanoplastics, microplastics, phenanthrene, Daphnia magna, combined toxicity, bioaccumulation, environmental fate, adsorption, additive toxicity, freshwater, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, plastic particle size, ecological risk
- MeSH terms
- Adsorption, Animals, Biological Availability, Daphnia, Environmental Monitoring, Fresh Water, Particle Size, Phenanthrenes, Plastics, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Nanoparticles
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
