Microplastics Affect Earthworms Too [Science Now]

A study found that the immunity of organisms may be weakened in soil contaminated with microplastics. In the case of earthworms exposed to microplastics, phagocytosis decreased.



The National Research Foundation of Korea (Chairman Hong Won-hwa) announced on the 22nd that the research team of Professor Ahn Yoon-joo of Konkuk University and Professor Hyun Young-min of Yonsei University confirmed through joint research that earthworms exposed to microplastics are vulnerable to infection.



Earthworms, which live in soil environments inhabited by various bacteria, must have normal immune functions, just like humans, to properly perform their roles in the soil ecosystem.



Earthworms' immunity decreased in soil contaminated with microplastics. [Photo = National Research Foundation of Korea]



Currently, environmental toxicity assessment studies considering soil contamination by microplastics are increasing. Research on the immunotoxicity of soil-dwelling organisms, including earthworms that play an important role in the soil organism trophic level, is very limited.



There is no information on whether phagocytosis, one of the main functions of immune cells, changes in pathogens. Phagocytosis is the process by which living phagocytes ingest foreign substances in the body, viruses, bacteria, etc. that have entered the body, and remove them



. It is also called phagocytosis. The research team examined how changes in immune cell phagocytosis and pinocytosis occur when the red-lined earthworm, a domestic species, is exposed to 1 μm (micrometer) polystyrene microplastics.



In some cells, phagocytosis-like processes occur on liquid substances and take them into the cell, which is called pinocytosis.



First, using a fluorescence inverted microscope, they observed that amoebocytes, one of the earthworm immune cells, internalized microplastics within 30 minutes in an in vitro exposure environment.



When earthworm immune cells were exposed to microplastics for 24 hours, there was no effect on cell death, but phagocytosis against Escherichia coli, a pathogen detected in soil, significantly decreased from an exposure concentration of 1 mg/L.



In a soil experiment, when earthworms were exposed to soil contaminated with microplastics at a concentration of 0.1% for two weeks, there was no effect on the survival rate. It was confirmed that immune cells decreased by 40% and 29% in phagocytosis and pinocytosis, respectively, compared to the control group (100%).



Professor Ahn Yoon-joo explained, "This study is scientifically significant in that it is the first to report that earthworm immune cells decrease phagocytosis, the ability to actively remove pathogens, in soil contaminated with microplastics."



The research results (paper title: Microplastic pollution inhibits the phagocytosis of E. coli by earthworm immune cells in soil) were published in the March 20 online edition of the Journal of Hazardous Materials, an international academic journal in the field of environmental science.





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