Adverse Outcome Pathway

Biology

Gene

Immunology

Genetics

Medicine

Computational biology

Population

Gut flora

Dysbiosis

Environmental health

Ecology

Inflammation

Microplastics

Reproductive success

Zebrafish

Journal of Hazardous Materials

Plastic pollution has become a major concern on a global scale. The plastic is broken down into minuscule particles, which have an impact on the biosystems, however long-term impacts through an entire generation is largely unknown. Here, we present the first whole generation study exposing fish to a 500 nm polystyrene plastic particle at environmentally relevant concentrations. Short- and long-term adverse effects were investigated in the zebrafish model organism using a holistic multi-omics approach. The particles accumulated in the yolk sac of young larvae and short-term biological impacts included immune-relevant gene regulation related to inflammation and tolerance as well as disruption of metabolic processes, such as the fatty acid and lipid pathways. The long-term effects comprised gene regulations pointing towards skin and/or gill inflammation, dysbiosis of the gut microbiota, a tendency towards decreased condition factor in adult males as well as a lowered reproductive capability. From this study, it ...

Plastic nanoparticles cause mild inflammation, disrupt metabolic pathways, change the gut microbiota and affect reproduction in zebrafish: A full generation multi-omics study