DNA effects in Artemia Salina as a model organism under microplastics exposure

Abstract

The production of plastic started almost a century ago. Today, microplastic pollution is ubiquitous, we can find microplastics literally everywhere and the marine environment is not an exception. In the present study, we evaluate the effect of this pollutant on mortality and DNA degradation in the marine zooplankton species Artemia salina. Two experiments were carried out with two different population densities (low-density with n = 15 and high density with n = 100, in a total volume of 1,000 mL) and were exposed to three different concentrations of polystyrene microbeads (C0: Control, C1: 0.02 mg/L, C2: 0.2 mg/L and C3: 2 mg/L) for 7 days and at a constant temperature of 20ºC. The results showed an increase in the accumulated mortality of individuals subjected to the highest concentrations. These effects were shown to be dependent on the factors of population density and exposure time. In addition, it was shown that individuals subjected to medium and high concentrations had a higher mortality risk compared to the lower density and the control. DNA degradation levels could not be correlated with either microplastic concentration or exposure time.