Tire Rubber Based Microplastic Particles Cause Adverse on Quality Parameters of Rainbow Trout Sperm Cells

In the present study, we aimed to determine the parameters of oxidative stress markers, motility and kinematics of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) sperm cells exposed to different doses (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, and 10 mg/L, in vitro 4 h) of tire rubber based microplastic particles (TRMP-Ps) the leachates procedure of rubber pieces. First of all, TRMP-Ps were prepared by abrasion method in accordance with the literature. Structural and morphological features of TRMP-Ps were determined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods, respectively. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis technique was used to characterize the elemental composition of TRMP-Ps. Particle size of microplastic structures was measured hydrodynamically with dynamic light scattering analysis (DLS). After exposure, the effect of TRMP-Ps was defined by the observations of kinematics and antioxidant activities in sperm cells. Our findings showed that the straight line velocity, the curvilinear velocity, the angular path velocity, and the amplitude of lateral displacement of sperm cells decreased. Moreover, while the level of superoxide dismutase decreased dose-dependently against the toxicity of TRMP-Ps, no significant change was observed in the levels of malondialdehyde and total glutathione. The 4-h median effective concentrations (EC₅₀) of TRMP-Ps based on mobility parameters of sperm ranged from 0.31 mg/L for reduced straight line velocity of sperm cells to 0.51 mg/L for reduced amplitude of lateral displacement of the spermatozoa head. Therefore, we concluded that TRMP-Ps can be a risk for the reproduction cycle of fish in aquatic environments.