Exposure to polystyrene microplastic beads causes sex-specific toxic effects in the model insect Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: The toxicity of MPs on aquatic creatures has been extensively studied, but little attention was paid to terrestrial organisms. To fill this gab, we conducted a series of experiments using Drosophila as a model organism to understand whether exposure to different concentrations (0.005, 0.05, 0.5 µg/ml) of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) beads (2 µm in size) can impact flies feeding activity, digestion and excretion. The ability of flies to distinguish between normal and PS-MPs treated food media was tested first, and then we evaluated the effects of a 7-day short-term exposure to PS-MPs on food intake, mortality, starvation resistance, fecal pellet count, and the cellular structure of mid gut cells. The results revealed that flies can really differentiate and ignore MPs-treated food. We

SUBMITTER: El Kholy S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9814852 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature