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Preparation of Expanded Chitin Foams and their Use in the Removal of Aqueous Copper

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Enzymatic digestion method development for long-term stored chitinaceous planktonic samples.

Priscilla Carrillo-Barragan¹, Heather Sugden², Catherine L Scott³

¹The Dove Marine Laboratory, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences: Marine Sciences, Newcastle University, Cullercoats, North Shields NE30 4PZ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7YT, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Marine Pollution Bulletin

|May 8, 2022

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Researchers developed a gentle enzymatic digestion method to extract microplastics from crustacean larvae. This new technique efficiently removes biomass while preserving microplastic integrity for FTIR Spectroscopy analysis.

Area of Science:

Marine Biology
Environmental Science
Analytical Chemistry

Background:

Microplastic ingestion by marine organisms is a growing concern.
Mussels are commonly studied, but enzymatic digestion methods for crustaceans are underdeveloped.
Long-term biotic samples offer valuable insights into ecosystem changes due to anthropogenic factors.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop and optimize a gentle enzymatic digestion method for microplastic extraction from crustacean larvae.
To assess the effectiveness of the method for analyzing microplastics in historical samples.
To ensure the method is compatible with microplastic identification techniques like FTIR Spectroscopy.

Main Methods:

Utilized crustacean larvae collected in 1985 and 2020 from the central North Sea.

Keywords:

Chitin Crab larvae Microplastics Plastic pollution Zooplankton

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Measurement of Chitinase Activity in Biological Samples

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A Multi-Omics Extraction Method for the In-Depth Analysis of Synchronized Cultures of the Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

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Employed a sequential digestion process involving mechanical and surfactant (Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate) pre-treatment.

Incorporated enzymatic digestion using proteinase K and chitinase.

Main Results:

The optimized method achieved >96% biomass removal from both 1985 and 2020 samples.
The digestion process was effective and did not interfere with the identification of naturally weathered microplastics.
Successfully applied the method to analyze microplastics in historical crustacean samples.

Conclusions:

An effective and gentle enzymatic digestion method for microplastic research in crustaceans has been established.
This method enables the analysis of microplastics in long-term time-series samples, aiding in ecosystem monitoring.
The developed technique is crucial for understanding microplastic pollution impacts on marine invertebrates.