Ingestion and toxicity of microplastics in the freshwater gastropod Lymnaea stagnalis: No microplastic-induced effects alone or in combination with copper.

Annkatrin Weber, Marvin von Randow, Anna-Lisa Voigt, Marcus von der Au, Emily Fischer, Björn Meermann, Martin Wagner

Chemosphere 2021 Jan

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The interaction of microplastics with freshwater biota and their interaction with other stressors is still not very well understood. Therefore, we investigated the ingestion, excretion and toxicity of microplastics in the freshwater gastropod Lymnaea stagnalis. MP ingestion was analyzed as tissues levels in L. stagnalis after 6-96 h of exposure to 5-90 μm spherical polystyrene (PS) microplastics. To understand the excretion, tissue levels were determined after 24 h of exposure followed by a 12 h-7 d depuration period. To assess the toxicity, snails were exposed for 28 d to irregular PS microplastics (<63 μm, 6.4-100,000 particles mL-1), both alone and in combination with copper as additional stressor. To compare the toxicity of natural and synthetic particles, we also included diatomite particles. Microplastics ingestion and excretion significantly depended on the particle size and the exposure/depuration duration. An exposure to irregular PS had no effect on survival, reproduction, energy reserves and oxidative stress. However, we observed slight effects on immune cell phagocytosis. Exposure to microplastics did not exacerbate the reproductive toxicity of copper. In addition, there was no pronounced difference between the effects of microplastics and diatomite. The tolerance towards microplastics may originate from an adaptation of L. stagnalis to particle-rich environments or a general stress resilience. In conclusion, despite high uptake rates, PS fragments do not appear to be a relevant stressor for stress tolerant freshwater gastropods considering current environmental levels of microplastics. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Citation

Annkatrin Weber, Marvin von Randow, Anna-Lisa Voigt, Marcus von der Au, Emily Fischer, Björn Meermann, Martin Wagner. Ingestion and toxicity of microplastics in the freshwater gastropod Lymnaea stagnalis: No microplastic-induced effects alone or in combination with copper. Chemosphere. 2021 Jan;263:128040