Abstract
Polystyrene microplastics (PS MPs) and carbamazepine (CBZ) are frequently detected in freshwater ecosystems. However, the transgenerational effects of PS MPs and CBZ on the reproduction of aquatic organisms and the corresponding mechanisms are still unclear. In the present study, Daphnia magna was used to evaluate the reproductive toxicity in two consecutive generations (F0, F1). The molting and reproduction parameters, the expression of reproduction, and the toxic metabolism genes were examined after 21-day exposure. A significantly enhanced toxicity was observed in the presence of 5 μm PS MPs and CBZ. Chronic exposure results showed that the 5 μm PS MPs alone, CBZ alone, and their mixtures exerted significant reproductive toxicity of D. magna. The results of RT-qPCR showed transcripts of genes related to reproduction (cyp314, ecr-b, cut, vtg1, vtg2, dmrt93b) and toxic metabolism (cyp4, gst) were altered in both the F0 and F1. In addition, for the F0, gene transcriptional changes of reproduction were not fully translated into physiological performance, probably due to the compensatory responses caused by the low dose of PS MPs alone, CBZ alone, and their mixtures. Whereas for the F1, the trade-off between reproduction and toxic metabolism at gene levels was observed, which translated into a significant reduction in the total neonate number of F1. These findings suggest that long-term exposure to MPs and CBZ can cause serious reproduction damage to aquatic animals, which needs to be given sufficient attention.
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Funding
The study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (19KJA460006), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52070097 and 51808284), and the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (SJCX22_0451).
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Yide He: methodology, conceptualization, writing—original draft. Yiqun Zhang: formal analysis, writing—original draft. Wei Zhou: investigation. Rosa Freitas: writing—review & editing. Yongjun Zhang: supervision, writing—reviewing & editing, funding acquisition. Yunhai Zhang: writing—reviewing & editing, funding acquisition.
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Highlights
1. Enhanced acute toxicity of 5 μm PS MPs plus CBZ.
2. The severe transgenerational reproductive toxicity was observed.
3. Trade-off effect between reproduction and toxic metabolism in the F1 generation.
4. The response of the F1 generation was stronger than the F0 generation.
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He, Y., Zhang, Y., Zhou, W. et al. Combined exposure of polystyrene microplastics and carbamazepine induced transgenerational effects on the reproduction of Daphnia magna. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 67596–67607 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27270-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27270-0