Expanded Polystyrene-Debris-Induced Genotoxic Effect in Littoral Organisms

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a major component of plastic debris in the environment, including coastal and littoral zones. EPS is widely used in various industries including fish farming and aquaculture, which poses a serious potential threat not only to cultured hydrobionts but also to all living organisms, including humans. This paper presents the results of experimental studies on the effects of EPS (0.024 m2/L) on marine mollusks Mytilus trossulus and Tegula rustica, which are typical inhabitants of the upper littoral of Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan), belonging to different systematic groups and differing in the type of nutrition. The results of biochemical marker analysis showed the development of oxidative stress processes. Thus, increasing malondialdehyde content relative to control values was registered in the digestive glands of M. trossulus and T. rustica. In the cells of the digestive glands of M. trossulus, integral antioxidant activity decreased more than 1.5 times compared with that of the control. The change in the concentration of protein carbonyls was unchanged in M. trossulus, whereas in T. rustica, there was a 1.5-fold increase. EPS exposure also resulted in significant DNA damage in the studied mollusks—the damage level increased 2.5-fold in M. trossulus and 1.5-fold in T. rustica relative to the control, indicating the genotoxic potential of EPS litters.