Avaliação da presença de microplásticos na praia de Torres/RS, produção e estudo dos efeitos toxicológicos de micro/nanopartículas de polipropileno (PP) ao longo do desenvolvimento de zebrafish (Danio Rerio)

Abstract

Contamination of the environment by micro and nanoplastics is present in virtually all environments, which is a possible threat to multiple organisms of fauna and flora. However, data regarding the extent of this contamination on the Brazilian coast, and its toxicity to organisms are still scarce. Thus, this work is divided into three volumes, which present: 1) a review of the literature on toxicological effects caused by micro and nanoplastics; 2) quantification of contamination by microplastics on a beach on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul; 3) the generation and evaluation of the toxicity of micro and nanoplastics in zebrafish (Danio rerio). During the review step, 90.9% of the publications of toxicological studies with nanoplastics used PS as the plastic to be exposed to organisms and the category of organisms most studied was Arthropods (19.5%). The most tested toxicity categories were Oxidative Stress, Survival/Lethality and Biomass and, in general, nanoplastics showed greater presence of effects compared to microplastics. Regarding the study of the presence of microplastics on the beach, it was possible to verify a higher concentration of microplastics in places close to the Mampituba River compared to other sites. In addition, the main types of plastics evaluated by µRaman were polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA). During the step of generation and exposure of micro and nanoplastics in zebrafish, it was found that most of the generated particles had dimensions close to 80-90 nm, as indicated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FEG-SEM) analyses. and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), and these adhered to the embryos' chorion.