TY - JOUR

T1 - A short review on the recent method development for extraction and identification of microplastics in mussels and fish, two major groups of seafood

AU - Dellisanti, Walter

AU - Leung, Matthew Ming Lok

AU - Lam, Karen Wing Kei

AU - Wang, Youji

AU - Hu, Menghong

AU - Lo, Hoi Shing

AU - Fang, James Kar Hei

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Research Institute for Future Food, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Reference: P0038704 ), and the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong (Reference: SCRF/0024 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2022

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The prevalence of microplastics in the marine environment poses potential health risks to humans through seafood consumption. Relevant data are available but the diverse analytical approaches adopted to characterise microplastics have hampered data comparison among studies. Here, the techniques for extraction and identification of microplastics are summarised among studies of marine mussels and fish, two major groups of seafood. Among the reviewed papers published in 2018–2021, the most common practice to extract microplastics was through tissue digestion in alkaline chemicals (46 % for mussels, 56 % for fish) and oxidative chemicals (28 % for mussels, 12 % for fish). High-density solutions such as sodium chloride could be used to isolate microplastics from other undigested residues by flotation. Polymer analysis of microplastics was mainly carried out with Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (58 % for both mussels and fish) and Raman spectroscopy (14 % for mussels, 8 % for fish). Among these methods, we recommend alkaline digestion for microplastic extraction, and the automated mapping approach of FTIR or Raman spectroscopy for microplastic identification. Overall, this study highlights the need for a standard protocol for characterising microplastics in seafood samples.

AB - The prevalence of microplastics in the marine environment poses potential health risks to humans through seafood consumption. Relevant data are available but the diverse analytical approaches adopted to characterise microplastics have hampered data comparison among studies. Here, the techniques for extraction and identification of microplastics are summarised among studies of marine mussels and fish, two major groups of seafood. Among the reviewed papers published in 2018–2021, the most common practice to extract microplastics was through tissue digestion in alkaline chemicals (46 % for mussels, 56 % for fish) and oxidative chemicals (28 % for mussels, 12 % for fish). High-density solutions such as sodium chloride could be used to isolate microplastics from other undigested residues by flotation. Polymer analysis of microplastics was mainly carried out with Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (58 % for both mussels and fish) and Raman spectroscopy (14 % for mussels, 8 % for fish). Among these methods, we recommend alkaline digestion for microplastic extraction, and the automated mapping approach of FTIR or Raman spectroscopy for microplastic identification. Overall, this study highlights the need for a standard protocol for characterising microplastics in seafood samples.

KW - Environmental pollution

KW - FTIR

KW - Microplastics

KW - Raman

KW - Seafood contamination

U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114221

DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114221

M3 - Review

C2 - 36495608

AN - SCOPUS:85145492689

VL - 186

JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin

JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin

SN - 0025-326X

M1 - 114221

ER -