Metal-doping of nanoplastics enables accurate assessment of uptake and effects on <i>Gammarus pulex</i>
Paula E. Redondo‐Hasselerharm, G.J. Vink, Denise M. Mitrano, Albert A. Koelmans
Abstract
. A biodynamic model fitted well to the data and suggested bioaccumulation would occur in two kinetic compartments, the major one being reversible with rapid depuration to clean medium. Model fitting yielded a mass based trophic transfer factor (TTF), conceptually similar to the traditional biota sediment accumulation factor, for NP in the gut of 0.031. This value is close to a TTF value of 0.025 that was obtained for much larger microplastic particles in a similar experiment performed previously. Mechanistically, this suggests that ingestion of plastic is limited by the total volume of ingested particles. We demonstrated that using metal-doped plastics provides opportunities for precise quantification of NP accumulation and exposure in fate and effect studies, which can be a clear benefit for NP risk assessment.