Confocal measurement of microplastics uptake by plants
Lianzhen Li,
Yongming Luo,
Willie J.G.M. Peijnenburg,
Ruijie Li,
Jie Yang,
Qian Zhou
Affiliations
Lianzhen Li
Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China
Yongming Luo
Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China; Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science (ISSAS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China; Corresponding author at: Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China.
Willie J.G.M. Peijnenburg
National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Center for Safety of Substances and Products, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, the Netherlands; Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
Ruijie Li
Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China
Jie Yang
Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science (ISSAS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China
Qian Zhou
Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China
Microplastics (MPs, plastics 100 nm–5 mm in diameter) are estimated to accumulate in agricultural soils in quantities that exceed the total MP burden in ocean waters. Despite a wealth of information relating to the accumulation of MPs in aquatic species, there is little information on the uptake of MPs by terrestrial plants. Information about location of MPs in plant tissues is critical to understand the modes of their interaction with plants. Polystyrene (PS) is one of the most commonly used plastic polymers worldwide and it is often found in MPs sampled in the environment. The performance of traditional detection methods (i.e., transmission electron microscopy, TEM and scanning electron microscopy, SEM) for nanoparticles is limited due to the extensive sample preparation and the limited field of view. Here we report an approach for the imaging of different sizes of PS plastic beads (ranging from submicrometer to micrometer-sized) within plant tissues by using confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). Fluorescent dye Nile blue or 4-chloro-7-nitro-1,2,3-benzoxadiazole were encapsulated into the PS microbeads through swelling method and they were used to detect the localization of PS beads in the root and the green tissue respectively. • This is a simple and rapid approach for imaging of MPs in plant. • The fluorescent dyes can produce bright and stable emission signals that are distinguishable from the autofluorescence background of plant tissues. • The dyes leakage in the aqueous phase can be assumed to be negligible.
