TY - JOUR

T1 - Ecotoxicological and biochemical effects of environmental concentrations of the plastic-bond pollutant dibutyl phthalate on Scenedesmus sp.

AU - Cunha, César

AU - Paulo, Jorge

AU - Faria, Marisa

AU - Kaufmann, Manfred

AU - Cordeiro, Nereida

N1 - Funding Information: This work was partially supported by the project REBECA (MAC/1.1a/060) European Territorial Cooperation Programme PCT-MAC 2014-2020 through project REBECA (MAC/1.1a/060) and the Oceanic Observatory of Madeira Project (M1420-01-0145-FEDER-000001). The authors acknowledge the Spanish Bank of Algae (BEA) for making the microalga available. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Phthalate esters are highly present in aquatic plastic litter, which can interfere with the biological processes in the wildlife. In this work, the commonly found freshwater microalga Scenedesmus sp. was exposed to environmental concentrations (0.02, 1 and 100 μg L−1) and to a higher concentration (500 μg L−1) of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which is an environmental pollutant. The growth, pH variation, production of photosynthetic pigments, proteins and carbohydrates were evaluated. The main inhibition effect of DBP on the microalgal growth was observed in the first 48 h of the exposure (EC50: 41.88 μg L-1). A reduction in the photosynthetic pigment concentration was observed for the 0.02, 1 and 100 μg L-1 conditions indicating that the DBP downregulated the growth rate and affected the photosynthetic process. A significant increase in protein production was only observed under 500 μg L−1 DBP exposure. The extracellular carbohydrates production slightly decreased with the presence of DBP, with a stronger decrease occurring in the 500 μg L-1 condition. These results highlight the environmental risk evaluation and ecotoxicological effects of DBP on the production of biovaluable compounds by microalgae. The results also emphasize the importance of assessing the consequences of the environmental concentrations exposure as a result of the DBP dose-dependent correlation effects.

AB - Phthalate esters are highly present in aquatic plastic litter, which can interfere with the biological processes in the wildlife. In this work, the commonly found freshwater microalga Scenedesmus sp. was exposed to environmental concentrations (0.02, 1 and 100 μg L−1) and to a higher concentration (500 μg L−1) of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which is an environmental pollutant. The growth, pH variation, production of photosynthetic pigments, proteins and carbohydrates were evaluated. The main inhibition effect of DBP on the microalgal growth was observed in the first 48 h of the exposure (EC50: 41.88 μg L-1). A reduction in the photosynthetic pigment concentration was observed for the 0.02, 1 and 100 μg L-1 conditions indicating that the DBP downregulated the growth rate and affected the photosynthetic process. A significant increase in protein production was only observed under 500 μg L−1 DBP exposure. The extracellular carbohydrates production slightly decreased with the presence of DBP, with a stronger decrease occurring in the 500 μg L-1 condition. These results highlight the environmental risk evaluation and ecotoxicological effects of DBP on the production of biovaluable compounds by microalgae. The results also emphasize the importance of assessing the consequences of the environmental concentrations exposure as a result of the DBP dose-dependent correlation effects.

KW - Dibutyl phthalate

KW - Ecotoxicity

KW - Environmental endocrine disruptor

KW - Plastic-bond pollutant

KW - Scenedesmus sp.

U2 - 10.1016/j.aquatox.2019.105281

DO - 10.1016/j.aquatox.2019.105281

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31446302

AN - SCOPUS:85070980444

VL - 215

JO - Aquatic Toxicology

JF - Aquatic Toxicology

SN - 0166-445X

M1 - 105281

ER -