Parental exposure to sulfamethazine and nanoplastics alters the gut microbial communities in the offspring of marine madaka (Oryzias melastigma)

The individual and combined toxicity of antibiotics and nanoplastics in marine organisms has received increasing attention. However, many studies have been mostly focused on the impacts on the directly exposed generation (F0). In this study, intergenerational effects of sulfamethazine (SMZ) and nanoplastic fragments (polystyrene, PS) on the growth and the gut microbiota of marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) were investigated. The results showed that parental exposure to dietary SMZ (4.62 mg/g) alone and PS (3.45 mg/g) alone for 30 days decreased the body weight (by 13.41% and 34.33%, respectively) and altered the composition of gut microbiota in F1 males (two months after hatching). Interestingly, parental exposure to the mixture of SMZ and PS caused a more modest decrease in the body weight of F1 males than the PS alone (15.60% vs 34.33%). The hepatic igf1 level and the relative abundance of the host energy metabolism related phylum Bacteroidetes for the SMZ + PS group were significantly higher than those for the PS group (igf1, increased by 97.1%; Bacteroidetes, 2.876% vs 0.375%), suggesting that the parentally derived mixture of SMZ and PS might influence the first microbial colonization of gut in a different way to the PS alone. This study contributes to a better understanding of the long-term risk of antibiotics and nanoplastics to marine organisms.

Automated summary

The study reveals that the exposure of marine organisms to a mixture of antibiotics and nanoplastics can affect the growth and gut microbiota of their offspring, with different exposure conditions leading to varying degrees of weight loss and alterations in microbial composition.