PID2021-122592NB-I00
Official start date: 01/09/2022
Official end date: 31/08/2025
New Approach Methodologies for evaluating the toxicity of biodegradable plastics and plastic additives.
The occurrence of plastic and its associated chemicals in the aquatic environment is an issue of great social and economic concern. Investigating the toxic effects of plastics and associated chemicals is a challenging task. In recent years, global research efforts are being directed towards the development and application of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) based on in vitro systems that do not require the use of living organism and provide information on chemical hazard by elucidating the mechanisms of toxicity. Within this context, there is growing interest in the development of models that predict realistic exposure scenarios using repeated or chronic exposures at lower doses to provide more environmentally relevant results as well as reducing animal testing. Traditional two-dimensional (2D) cells culture or monolayer cell cultures are a very useful approach, but have some limitations when predicting in-vivo effects. This has driven the development of more realistic and predictive three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models to improve the prognostic capability of in vitro testing systems.
This project aims to improve the predictability and to validate selected NAMs (fish cell monolayers, spheroids, mussel explants) for toxicity assessment of bio-based and biodegradable plastics, as well as plastic additives. The project explores the analysis of the lipidome and proteome together with traditional toxicological data (cell viability, gene expression, enzymatic activities), to characterize the complexity of the biological response and the alterations produced by a selected number of plastic extracts. The application of integrative and projection models such as the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) will facilitate the linkage between molecular responses and an adverse outcome, and will help to alert on the deterioration of aquatic systems.
This project, by developing new relevant cell models and high-throughput systems will provide integrative and reliable indicators of environmental and health impact, from which both plastic producers and policymakers can benefit for a better management and protection of natural resources and fulfil the social demand for a safer environment.
Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Reference: PID2021-122592NB-I00
