Approaches for the preparation and evaluation of hydrophilic polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate microplastic particles suited for toxicological effect studies

IF 3.8 2区化学 Q1 BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Pub Date : 2025-01-25 DOI:10.1007/s00216-024-05726-7

John Seghers, Claudia Cella, Emmy Pequeur, Rita La Spina, Francesco Roncari, Andrea Valsesia, Dora Mehn, Douglas Gilliland, Stefanie Trapmann, Håkan Emteborg

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Abstract

When performing effect studies to investigate the impact of microplastic (MP) on cell lines, algae, or daphnia, it is advantageous if such experiments can be performed without the use of surfactants. The need for surfactants arises from the fact that finely milled pristine MP particles generally are hydrophobic. Methods for the preparation of larger amounts of hydrophilic and hence artificially aged MP particles and approaches for their characterization are of high importance. Here we present methods to artificially age polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and low-density polyethylene (PE) using alkaline and acidic treatments that reproducibly result in large quantities of particles below 5 µm with considerably increased hydrophilicity. The artificially aged MP particles were characterized using particle counting by single-particle extinction and scattering (SPES), particle size by laser diffraction measurements, zeta potential using electrophoretic light scattering, hydrophobicity index (Hy) through dark-field (DF) microscopy, chemical composition by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy, and Raman microscopy. The hydrophobicity index values obtained should allow the aged MP particles to be characterized as qualitative reference materials (RMs) with an ordinal property. Evidence for the maintained integrity and hydrophilicity of the artificially aged MP particles (in powder form) over time was obtained by measurements of zeta potential with a 33-month interval. Uniformity of subsampling with respect to particle number concentration in suspensions within a 10-day period was also investigated. It provided evidence for the possibility of reproducible spiking of a specific number of hydrophilic MP particles with relative standard deviations (RSDs) from 6.2 to 13.6%. For the development of future reference materials of artificially aged microplastics, they should be characterized for an ordinal property (artificial age as Hy-index) and nominal property (identity of PET or PE based on spectral matching).

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适于毒理学效应研究的亲水性聚乙烯和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯微塑料颗粒的制备和评价方法。

当进行效应研究以调查微塑料（MP）对细胞系、藻类或水蚤的影响时，如果这些实验可以在不使用表面活性剂的情况下进行，则是有利的。对表面活性剂的需求源于这样一个事实，即精细研磨的原始MP颗粒通常是疏水性的。制备大量亲水性和人工老化的MP颗粒的方法及其表征方法是非常重要的。在这里，我们提出了使用碱性和酸性处理对聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）和低密度聚乙烯（PE）进行人工老化的方法，可重复地产生大量小于5µm的颗粒，亲水性大大提高。采用单粒子消光散射法（SPES）对人工老化的MP粒子进行了粒子计数，激光衍射法测量了粒子大小，电泳光散射法测量了zeta电位，暗场显微镜（DF）测量了疏水性指数（Hy），电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）、傅里叶变换红外显微镜（FTIR）和拉曼显微镜对化学成分进行了表征。所获得的疏水性指数值应允许老化MP颗粒作为具有有序性质的定性参考物质（RMs）进行表征。人工老化的MP颗粒（粉末形式）随着时间的推移保持完整性和亲水性的证据是通过间隔33个月的zeta电位测量获得的。还研究了10天内悬浮颗粒数浓度的均匀性。为特定数量的亲水MP颗粒的可重复性峰的可能性提供了证据，相对标准偏差（rsd）为6.2 ~ 13.6%。为了开发未来人工老化微塑料的参考材料，它们应该具有序数性质（人工老化为hy指数）和标称性质（基于光谱匹配的PET或PE的同一性）。

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来源期刊

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 化学-分析化学

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

4.70%

发文量

638

审稿时长

2.1 months

期刊介绍： Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry’s mission is the rapid publication of excellent and high-impact research articles on fundamental and applied topics of analytical and bioanalytical measurement science. Its scope is broad, and ranges from novel measurement platforms and their characterization to multidisciplinary approaches that effectively address important scientific problems. The Editors encourage submissions presenting innovative analytical research in concept, instrumentation, methods, and/or applications, including: mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, and electroanalysis; advanced separations; analytical strategies in “-omics” and imaging, bioanalysis, and sampling; miniaturized devices, medical diagnostics, sensors; analytical characterization of nano- and biomaterials; chemometrics and advanced data analysis.