Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems (NOT OPEN ACCESS) SUMMARY: Though there has been a lot of research on microplastics in aquatic environments, there aren’t studies looking into the effects of microplastics on land. Researchers in this article suspect that there may be more microplastics on land than in the oceans; organisms that… Continue reading Investigating Microplastics on Land
Tag: nanoplastic
Feeding Plastic to Copepods
Adverse effects of microplastics and oxidative stress-induced MAPK/Nfr2 pathway-mediated defense mechanisms in the marine copepod Paracyclopina nana SUMMARY: Researchers fed copepods (specifically Paracyclopina nana or P. nana) three different sizes of plastic beads: 6um, 0.5um, and 0.05um. They found that the smaller the beads, the longer they stayed in the copepod's bodies and the more… Continue reading Feeding Plastic to Copepods
Nanoplastics and the Cell Membrane: A Simulation
Polystyrene Nanoparticles Perturb Lipid Membranes(NOT OPEN ACCESS) SUMMARY: This experiment used computer graphics to simulate how polystyrene nanoparticles could possibly interact with a biological membrane. This requires knowing the chemical properties of both polystyrene and the cell membrane. The simulation (called a coarse-grained molecular simulation) showed that these tiny pieces of plastic are able to… Continue reading Nanoplastics and the Cell Membrane: A Simulation
Feeding Plastic to Rotifers
Microplastic Size-Dependent Toxicity, Oxidative Stress Induction, and p-JNK and p-p38 in Activation in the Monogonont Rotifer (Brachionus koreanus)(NOT OPEN ACCESS) SUMMARY: Rotifers (Brachionus koreanus) were fed fluorescent microplastic beads of 3 different sizes: 6um, 0.5um, 0.05um. The pictures in this article show how much microplastic was still left inside the rotifers right after eating, after… Continue reading Feeding Plastic to Rotifers