Cited by 766Microplastics and Plastic PollutionEnvironmental Toxicology and EcotoxicologyPharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts

Accumulation, tissue distribution, and biochemical effects of polystyrene microplastics in the freshwater fish red tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Ding, Jiannan, Zhang, Shanshan, Razanajatovo, Roger Mamitiana, Zou, Hua, Zhu, Wenbin·2018·Environmental Pollution

Abstract

While the presence of microplastics (MPs) in marine environments has been detected worldwide, the importance of MPs pollution in freshwater environments has also been emphasized in recent years. However, the body of knowledge regarding the biological effects of MPs on freshwater organisms is still much more limited than on marine organisms. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the accumulation and tissue distribution of MPs in the freshwater fish red tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), as well as the biochemical effects of MPs on O. niloticus. During 14 days of exposure to 0.1 μm polystyrene-MPs at concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 μg L-1, the MPs concentrations in various tissues of O. niloticus generally increased over time following the order gut > gills > liver ≈ brain. Moreover, the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the fish brain was inhibited by MPs exposure, with a maximum inhibition rate of 37.7%, suggesting the potential neurotoxicity of MPs to freshwater fish. The activities of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes [7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) and 7-benzyloxy-4-trifluoromethyl-coumarin O-dibenzyloxylase (BFCOD)] in the fish liver exhibited clear temporal variabilities, with significant decreases followed by elevations compared to the control. The alterations of the EROD and BFCOD activities indicate the potential involvement of CYP enzymes for the metabolism of MPs. The activity of antioxidative enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the liver was significantly induced throughout the exposure period, while the malondialdehyde (MDA) content did not vary with MPs exposure, suggesting that the antioxidative enzymatic system in O. niloticus could prevent oxidative damage. These results highlight the ingestion and accumulation of MPs in different tissues of freshwater fish, which lead to perturbations in fish biological systems and should be considered in environmental risk assessment.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.03.001

Cites

59 of 59 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

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?

  • Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) are small enough to enter the body's cells, tissues, and major organs and interfere with physiological molecular and biological processes.

    “These particles, collectively called micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs), are small enough to enter the body’s cells, tissues, and major organs and then interfere with physiological molecular and biological processes, such as protein structure [4] and cell membranes [5].”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Ding, J., Zhang, S., Razanajatovo, R. M., Zou, H., & Zhu, W.
Affiliations
  • Jiangnan University (CN)
  • Freshwater Fisheries Research Center (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Zou, Hua
  • Zhu, Wenbin
Venue
Environmental Pollution
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-07
Volume
238
Pages
1-9
ISSN
0269-7491 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2793554595
Cited by
766
References
59
Citations by year
2026: 61 · 2025: 124 · 2024: 121 · 2023: 127 · 2022: 116 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 9
FWCI
20.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Environmental Pollution (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20170188)
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFE0123600)
  • Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JUSRP11714)
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
polystyrene microplastics, microplastic accumulation, tissue distribution, red tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, freshwater fish, acetylcholinesterase inhibition, neurotoxicity, cytochrome P450, ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase, superoxide dismutase, oxidative stress, malondialdehyde, environmental risk assessment
MeSH terms
Acetylcholinesterase, Animals, Antioxidants, Brain, Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Fresh Water, Gills, Liver, Malondialdehyde, Polystyrenes, Superoxide Dismutase, Tissue Distribution, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Tilapia, Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1, Gastrointestinal Tract

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