UNSEEN: Are unseen plastic particles in the global ocean already beyond the "no-effect" concentrations?

调查纳米塑料(NPs)对水生生物影响的研究使用比海洋中预测的浓度高2至7个数量级的浓度来跟踪NPs。这些研究将社区分为两类：一类是因观察到的生态毒理效应而发出警报的人，另一类是预测环境中NP浓度远低于任何阈值效应的人。在现实中，大多数实验的设计都不充分。缺乏适当的NP模型、跟踪方法和环境现实浓度的监测战略，阻碍了符合目的的实验设计。利用14C标记的NPs和传统的核技术，我们最近模拟了扇贝，长期暴露在环境现实浓度(15ug/L)下可能积累并达到NPs的身体负担，在那里敲响警钟的人观察到了影响。令人惊讶的是，这表明NPs已经超过了阈值--对生物体的影响，并损害了海洋生物群。UnSeed将调查海洋中的NPs是否已经超过了“阈值效应”浓度？利用一种成功的放射性标记方法，UNSEW将建立一种新的方法，利用离子束分析(IBA)和质谱学成像(MSI)将NPs与元素和分子成像相关联。这一分析方法将提供对NPs潜在影响的独特洞察。UNSED的总体目标不仅仅是对NPs在食物网络中的分布进行定性评估，并产生定量的、空间分辨的毒物动力学和代谢学数据。NPs的定量组织分布，在现实的慢性NP暴露后，将直接与空间分辨的代谢组数据进行比较。这将为真正新颖的方法提供概念验证。未见解决的关键问题是，NPs是否在食物网中积累，以及在长期暴露后，NPs是否正在以环境现实的浓度危害水生生物。这里提出的方法是必要的，并将产生关于NPs及其添加剂在水环境中的长期综合后果的独特、有价值的基础知识。这对于制定有关塑料垃圾的适当管理战略至关重要。如果成功，UNSED确实将支持政策制定者改进对核电厂的环境风险评估。据设想，这里提出的办法将使对新出现的问题的污染物的研究发生阶段性变化，并使人们能够研究其命运的许多不同方面(例如，转化、碎片化、生物矿化、生物分布)。这种非常规方法将完全整合管理对核物质的生物反应的过程，并提供对核物质潜在影响的理解，这些影响可以转化为人类健康。UnSeed选择了一种高度创新的方法来解决其研究问题。它结合了放射化学和生物医学中非常新的技术，使用离子束分析(IBA)和质谱仪成像(MSI)来解决重要的环境问题。它将建立14C标记的NPs作为执行现实的基于实验室的研究的黄金标准。基础研究将产生超出其总体目标的关键影响。例如，拟议的研究将对在生物医学研究(即微量剂量)中使用14C作为低水平示踪剂产生巨大影响，而在生物医学研究中往往缺少适当的方法。提出的方法是独一无二的，将允许进行超出最先进水平的开创性科学。UnSeed建立了一支独特的跨学科研究团队，整合了环境分析化学、放射化学和离子束物理方面的相关专业知识。

Studies investigating effects of nanoplastics (NPs) on aquatic organisms used concentrations between 2 to 7 order-of-magnitudes higher than those predicted in ocean to track NPs. These studies divided the community between those sounding the alarm due to the observed ecotoxicological effects, and those predicting that NP concentrations in the environment are far below any threshold-effect. In reality, most experiments were inadequately designed. Fit-to-purpose experimental designs have been hindered by a lack of appropriate NP models, tracking methods, and monitoring strategies for environmentally realistic concentrations. Using 14C-labelled NPs and conventional nuclear techniques, we recently modelled that scallop, chronically exposed to environmentally realistic NP concentrations (15 ug/L) might accumulate and reach NPs body burden where effects are observed by those sounding the alarm. Astonishingly, this suggests that NPs are already beyond threshold-effects in organisms and harming the marine biota. UNSEEN will investigate whether NPs in the oceans are already beyond "threshold-effect" concentrations? Using a successful radiolabelling approach, UNSEEN will establish a new methodology for correlative imaging of NPs with elemental and molecular imaging using ion beam analysis (IBA) and mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). This analytical approach will provide a unique insight into the potential effects of NPs.The overall goal of UNSEEN is to go beyond a mere qualitative evaluation of the distribution of NPs in the food web, and to generate quantitative, spatially-resolved toxicokinetic and metabolomic data. Quantitative tissue distributions of NPs, following realistic chronic NP exposures, will be directly compared to the spatially-resolved metabolomic data. This will provide a proof-of-concept for a truly novel approach. UNSEEN addresses key questions of whether NPs accumulate in the food-web and whether NPs are harming aquatic organisms at environmentally realistic concentrations after long-term exposures. The approach proposed here is essential and will produce unique, valuable and fundamental knowledge on the combined long-term consequences of NPs and their additives in aquatic environments. This is critical for developing appropriate management strategies regarding plastic litter. If successful, UNSEEN will indeed support policy makers in improving environmental risk assessments of NPs. It is envisioned that the approach proposed herein will enable a step-change in the research on contaminants of emerging concerns and will allow the study of many different aspects of their fates (e.g., transformation, fragmentation, biomineralization, biodistribution). The unconventional approach will fully integrate the processes that govern the biological responses to NPs and provide an understanding of the potential effects of NPs that could be translated to human health. UNSEEN chooses a highly innovative approach to address its research questions. It combines radiochemistry and very emergent technologies from biomedical sciences using ion beam analysis (IBA) and mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to resolve important environmental questions. It will establish 14C-labelled NPs as a gold standard for performing realistic laboratory-based studies. It is fundamental research that will have a critical impact beyond its overall goal. The research proposed will, for instance, have a huge impact on the use of 14C as low-level tracer in biomedical studies (i.e. micro-dosing), where appropriate methods are often missing. The approach proposed is unique and will allow to perform ground-breaking science that goes beyond the state-of-the-art. UNSEEN builds a unique inter-disciplinary research team that integrates the relevant expertise in environmental analytical chemistry, radiochemistry and ion beam physics.