Investigating the impact of water-soluble polymers on the metabolic profiles of aquatic organisms and microbes

尽管它们无处不在，但关于水溶性聚合物(WSP)的毒性模式的文献非常少。持久性水溶性聚合物，如聚乙烯吡咯烷酮、聚丙烯酸、聚丙烯酰胺和丙烯酸共聚物，年产量高达数百万吨，许多用途与环境排放有关。WSP的应用包括在消费品、制药、涂料、化肥和许多其他行业，如纺织工业。虽然现有的研究广泛表明WSP没有急性毒性，但最近有人建议，应根据有关降解的聚丙烯酰胺单体(PAM)和相应单体的最新信息，重新研究降解的PAM的传输、去向和去除效率。应该指出的是，一些水凝胶也被归类为粘附性聚合物，这为它们提供了附着在生物膜上的潜力。该项目的主要目的是调查WSP对水生生物和微生物新陈代谢的影响。

Despite their ubiquity, there is remarkably little literature on modes of toxicity for water-soluble polymers (WSPs). Persistent, water-soluble polymers like polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyacrylic acid, polyacrylamide and acrylic copolymers have annual production volumes well into the millions of tonnes, with many uses associated with environmental emissions. Applications of WSPs include their use in consumer products, pharmaceuticals, paint, fertiliser and many other industries e.g. textile industry.Whilst existing studies broadly indicate that WSPs possess a lack of acute toxicity, it has been recently suggested that the transport, fate, and removal efficiency of degraded Polyacrylamide monomer (PAM) should be re-examined in light of new information on both PAM and the corresponding monomer. It should be noted that some WSPs are also classified as mucoadhesive polymers, which provides the potential for them to adhere to biological membranes. The principal aim of this project is to investigate the potential for WSP's to influence the metabolic profile of aquatic organisms and microbes.