Cellular toxicity and apoptosis-related responses to individual and combined exposure to microplastics and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in Hediste diversicolor coelomocytes.

Co-exposure to microplastics and PFOS increases PFOS bioaccumulation and induces apoptosis-related responses in Hediste diversicolor coelomocytes.

• Why it matters: Understanding the combined effects of microplastics and persistent chemicals like PFOS is crucial because their co-occurrence may enhance toxicity and environmental risk in marine ecosystems, yet this interaction remains poorly characterized.
• What they did: Researchers exposed Hediste diversicolor to sediment containing microplastics (50 mg kg -1) and PFOS (0.1, 0.5, and 1 μg kg -1) for 7 days, measuring PFOS accumulation, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and gene expression related to apoptosis.
• The result: PFOS accumulated in a dose-dependent manner, especially under co-exposure, and was associated with lysosomal destabilization, increased micronucleus frequency, DNA fragmentation, and altered expression of apoptosis genes, indicating enhanced hazard from contaminant mixtures.