Microplastics, tiny plastic particles less than 5mm in size, come mostly from the breakdown of plastics and have recently been shown to harm marine animals. They also attract organic pollutants due to their large surface area. Concerns about microplastics’ potential to negatively impact human health via consumption of contaminated seafood has prompted research geared towards their isolation and detection. This led to our research question: Are microplastics present in marine animals from Cape Cod bay? To answer this question, our goals are to: (1) develop a method to separate any microplastics from biological materials in the guts of locally caught marine fish, (2) detect and identify the isolated microplastics using a combination of techniques from the literature, and (3) extend our investigation to other marine animals once the method for the isolation, detection and identification of microplastics has been fully developed. Currently we are using KOH/H2O2 digestion to separate any microplastics from the GI tract of Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus). Future work will include refining the digestion method or finding an alternative procedure for efficient digestion. Literature methods for the detection and identification of separated microplastics include density separation with aqueous ZnCl2, Nile red staining followed by fluorescence spectroscopy, and FTIR.

Preliminary study of microplastics in marine animals from Cape Cod bay

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.