Issue 9, 2024

Alleviating effects of microplastics together with tetracycline hydrochloride on the physiological stress of Closterium sp.

Abstract

Microplastics have significant influence on both freshwater cyanobacteria and marine microalgae, especially under co-exposure with other pollutants such as heavy metals, antibiotics, and pharmaceuticals. In the present study, combined effects of microplastics (polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) on the microalgae Closterium sp. were studied to evaluate their acute toxicity, and the cell density, total chlorophyll concentration, photosynthetic activity, antioxidant system, and subcellular structure of Closterium sp. under different treatments were used to explain the physiological stress mechanism of the combined effects. The results indicate that both the single and combined treatments have inhibition effects on the cell growth and photosynthetic activity, with inhibition efficiencies (in terms of cell density) of 5.0%, 9.2%, 66.7%, 55.1%, and 59.8% for PET (100 mg L−1), PBT (100 mg L−1), TCH (10 mg L−1), PET/TCH (PET 100 mg L−1 and TCH 10 mg L−1), and PBT/TCH (PBT 100 mg L−1 and TCH 10 mg L−1), respectively, and relative electron-transport rates (rETRs) of 7.3%, 12.7%, 66.8%, 54.0%, and 59.9%, respectively, for each treatment compared with the control on the 7th day. Moreover, both PET and PBT have positive effects in alleviating TCH toxicity toward Closterium sp., and at the same time, the malondialdehyde level (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and catalase (CAT) activity induced by the combined treatments were much higher than those from the single microplastic treatments but lower than those from TCH treatment after 7 days. It was demonstrated that TCH causes a much more serious oxidative stress than PET/TCH and PBT/TCH, and the lower oxidative stress of the PET/TCH and PBT/TCH groups could be attributed to the adsorption of TCH to PET or PBT. This work improves the understanding of the combined toxicity effects of microplastics and TCH on Closterium sp.

Graphical abstract: Alleviating effects of microplastics together with tetracycline hydrochloride on the physiological stress of Closterium sp.

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 5 2024
Accepted
18 7 2024
First published
24 7 2024

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2024,26, 1588-1600

Alleviating effects of microplastics together with tetracycline hydrochloride on the physiological stress of Closterium sp.

Y. Kong, Q. Zhou, R. Wang, Q. Chen, X. Xu, L. Zhu and Y. Wang, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2024, 26, 1588 DOI: 10.1039/D4EM00286E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements