Metabolomic profiling reveals the intestinal toxicity of different length of microplastic fibers on zebrafish (Danio rerio)

To explore the intestinal toxicity of microplastic fibers, zebrafish larvae and adults were exposed to different length of microplastic fibers (50 ± 26 μm and 200 ± 90 μm). After exposure, microplastic fibers were observed in the gut of zebrafish even at the early life stage, causing length-dependent intestinal damage and toxicities manifested by histopathological changes and biomarker responses. Long microplastic fibers induced more serious effects. They significantly decreased the food intake of zebrafish by 54 %–67 % compared with short microplastic fibers. Metabolomics was conducted to further reveal the metabolic alterations induced by microplastic fibers in zebrafish. A total of 124 and 123 metabolites were significantly changed by short and long microplastic fibers. At the meanwhile, 41 significantly changed metabolites were shared between short and long fibers treatment groups and were further investigated to reveal the influence of fiber length on the toxicity. The results demonstrate that microplastic fibers can up-regulate glycerophospholipids metabolism which exacerbates oxidative damage and inflammation and down-regulate fatty acyls metabolism related to nutritional deficiency. These novel findings enhance our understanding of the intestinal toxicity of microplastic fibers and demonstrate that metabolomics is powerful to unravel the underlying mechanisms of microplastics (MPs) toxicity.