An effective method for evaluation of microplastic contaminant in gastropod from Taihu Lake, China

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2020-06, Vol.27 (18), p.22878-22887
• Main Authors: Xu, Qiujin, Deng, Ting, LeBlanc, Gerald A., An, Lihui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Contaminants; Digestion; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Endopeptidase K; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Gastropoda; Infrared spectroscopy; Lakes; Microplastics; Mollusks; Optimization; Plastic debris; Plastic pollution; Polyamide resins; Polyamides; Polyethylene; Polyethylene terephthalate; Polystyrene; Polystyrene resins; Proteinase; Research Article; Snails; Soft tissues; Tissues; Vinyl acetate; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-08747-8

Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment. The isolation and characterization of microplastics can change, enabling science to elucidate the fate of microplastics in organisms. The main objective of the present study was to develop a rapid and effective method for the isolation, characterization, and quantification of microplastics from gastropod, and then evaluate the microplastic pollution in wild freshwater snails using the developed method. The whole tissue of gastropod Bellamya aeruginosa was spiked with microplastics derived from cosmetic products to optimize the tissue digestion and microplastic identification process. Optimum digestion of soft tissue was performed using a mixture of Tris-HCl, proteinase K, and KOH. Recovery of microplastics from the tissue digests, as determined by microscopy and infrared spectroscopy, was 89 ± 5%. The entire procedure could be completed within 30 h. Application of the procedure to wild freshwater snail B. aeruginosa collected from Taihu Lake revealed that 90~100% of the sampled snails accumulated 1 to 4 types of microplastics including poly(vinyl acetate), polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, and polyamides. In summary, a quick method was developed for the isolation and identification of microplastics from gastropod tissues, and the application of the method revealed the presence of microplastics in snails inhabiting Taihu Lake, China.