Aged polystyrene nanoplastics and bisphenol A co-exposure impair mitochondrial respiration in juvenile horseshoe crab Tachypleus tridentatus

Jiao K 1 , Wang Y 1 , Shi Y 1 , Sharifinia M 2 , Singh N 1 , Waiho K 3 Show all authors , Fazhan H 3 , Lee JS 4 , Fang JK 5 , Kwan KY 6 , Sendra M 7 , Hu M 8

Affiliations 

  • 1 International Research Center for Marine Biosciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
  • 2 Shrimp Research Center, Iranian Fisheries Sciences Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Bushehr, Iran
  • 3 Higher Institution Center of Excellence (HICoE), Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries, University Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, 20000, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, South Korea
  • 5 Department of Food Science and Nutrition, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
  • 6 Fisheries College of Jimei University, Fujian Province, Xiamen, China
  • 7 Department of Genetic Toxicology and Cancer Biology, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 121, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • 8 International Research Center for Marine Biosciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China; Marine Biomedical Science and Technology Innovation Platform of Lin-gang Special Area, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: mhhu@shou.edu.cn
Mar Pollut Bull, 2026 Dec;233(Pt 2):120287.
PMID: 42636645 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.120287

Abstract

Despite mounting evidence that environmental weathering alters the surface chemistry of nanoplastics (NPs), most ecotoxicological studies continue to use pristine particles, leaving the toxicological consequences of NP aging insufficiently resolved. Here, we systematically compared the toxicity of pristine and aged polystyrene NPs (PS-NPs), in combination with bisphenol A (BPA), on juvenile Chinese horseshoe crabs (Tachypleus tridentatus), an endangered IUCN Red List marine sentinel. Six treatments-control, BPA, pristine NPs, aged NPs, pristine NPs + BPA, and aged NPs + BPA-were administered over 21 days, with sampling at days 7 and 21. Biomarkers spanning surface chemistry, mitochondrial function, membrane integrity, respiratory chain activity, and oxidative stress were integrated using IBRv2, PCA, and Pearson correlation. UV aging markedly altered NP surfaces: zeta potential shifted from -5.6 mV to -49.9 mV, and the carbonyl index increased 12.8-fold. IBRv2 scores at day 7 ranked: aged NPs (96.7) > aged NPs + BPA (53.6) > pristine NPs + BPA (44.5) > pristine NPs (37.3) > BPA (21.2); at day 21, the ranking reorganized to aged NPs + BPA (88.7) > pristine NPs (57.3) > aged NPs (49.0) > pristine NPs + BPA (46.5) > BPA (45.0). Critically, aged NPs + BPA caused toxicity dominated by mitochondrial respiratory chain impairment (SDH declining to 22% of control; MDA reaching 206 nmol·mL-1 at day 21), whereas pristine NPs + BPA drove acute membrane lipid peroxidation-a divergence confirmed by PCA. Our findings demonstrate that NP aging shifts the mode, rather than merely the intensity, of combined toxicity with BPA, with implications for environmental risk assessment.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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