Development of a polystyrene-based microplastic model for bioaccumulation and biodistribution study using...

The investigation of micro or nano plastics behavior in the environment is essential to minimize the hazards of such pollutants on humans. While the conventional method requires sophisticated procedures and a lot of animal subjects, the nuclear technique confers a sensitive, accurate, and real-time method using radiolabeled micro or nano plastics as a tracer. In this study, polystyrene sulfonate-based microplastic (PSM) was developed with a size of around 3.6 μm, followed by radiolabeling with iodine-131 (¹³¹I) or zinc-65 (⁶⁵Zn) for microplastic radiotracer model. After a stability study in seawater, phosphate buffer saline (PBS), and human serum albumin (HSA) for fifteen days, PSM-¹³¹I remained stable (>90 %), except in HSA (50-60 % after day-9), while PSM-⁶⁵Zn was unstable (<50 %).