Botello AV, et al., J Toxicol Cur Res 2020, 4: 015 DOI: 10.24966/TCR-3735/100015 HSOA Journal of Toxicology: Current Research Research Article Introduction Microplastics and Bisphenol A The coastal area of Mexico is within the politically recognized territorial sea, covering an area of approximately 430000 km2 [1]. (BPA) in Sediments of Coastal Within this coastal area is the state of Veracruz, in which there is a great diversity of habitats of high productivity, which are intercon- Lagoons of Veracruz, Mexico nected systems, such as bays, deltas, seagrasses, coral reefs and coast- al lagoons and estuaries [2]. These coastal ecosystems have a strong Botello AV1*, Villanueva SF1, Leon D1, García-Borquez A2, de la anthropogenic impact, as a consequence of demographic growth Lanza G3 and Ponce G1 trends [2]. The river systems, being the means of transport of the ter- restrial material towards the coast and the ocean, are the means of 1Marine Pollution Laboratory, Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology, the transport of the garbage generated by the human and industrial UNAM, 04510, Mexico activity [3]. 2Materials Science, Higher Education Center for Physics and Mathematics. IPN, 07738, México The coastal states of the Gulf of Mexico have had a significant ur- ban evolution in a century, as happened in the Veracruz-Boca del Río 3Hydrobiology Laboratory, Institute of Biology, UNAM, 04510, Mexico tourist corridor in Veracruz since by its mega tourism development it is expected that by 2025, 40% of the national population at a distance of less than 100 km from the coast will live under marine and coastal Abstract influence. This entails a wide range of toxic wastes [4], which include an urban Solid Waste (MSW), as well as wastewater discharge. This Due to the importance and effects caused by microplastics and type of contamination is due to its poor disposal, leaks and leaching BPA in aquatic systems, the present study analyzed the presence at its storage sites (inland, warehouses, pipelines, sanitary landfills, of microplastic particles, their structure and their composition in 16 sediment samples from 4 coastal lagoons of Veracruz State, Gulf among others) or in areas of productive activities, or by accidental of Mexico. The presence of BPA in 7 samples close to the reef sys- spills during transport. Approximately 2% is deposited in rivers and tem of Veracruz, were also analyzed. These lagoons are important bodies of water [5]. for fisheries and provide sustenance for a large number of families that inhabit them. The microplastic particles were separated from Within the RSU are plastics, which are the set of synthetic or the sediments by sieves and flotation. Its shape and characteristics semi-synthetic materials formed from polymers of organic molecules were analyzed by optical Microscopy, scanning Electron Microsco- obtained from raw materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas or oil, py (MEB) techniques, were applied for the identification of sample among others; which can be deformed to achieve the desired shape degradation marks, as well as the analysis by Infrared Spectrometry through extrusion, molding or spinning [6]. According to Greenpeace (IR) technique for the identification of polymers that make them up. [7], the plastics market is dominated by polymers such as polypro- The results show that in all the lagoons there is the presence of pylene, Thermoplastic Polyester (PET), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), microplastics of different shapes and sizes, as well as of different compositions, the largest number of particles corresponded to the polyethylene, among others. These tend to accumulate being subject lagoons of Alvarado and Tampamachoco that are important fishing to both abiotic factors such as solar radiation, tidal movement, salin- and oyster culture areas.BPA also appeared in all samples and in ity, friction with sand and temperature, as well as biotic factors, such concentrations ranging from 0.04 to 0.35 ng / g, the highest corre- as biofilm formation. sponding to the samples close to the Veracruz reef system. The fact that microplastics were presented in all the study areas, indicates The existence of plastics in coastal systems undergoes the gener- that these areas are highly impacted by the presence of garbage, ation of microplastics, which consist of plastic fragments, covering urban and industrial waste, coming from the various activities that sizes of <10 mm [8], <5 mm [9,10], 2-6 mm [11], <2 mm [12] and are carried out nearby. <1 mm); they are found in sediments, water column and organisms. In recent years, microplastics have been widely detected in the sea, *Corresponding author: Botello AV, Marine Pollution Laboratory, Institute of freshwater, terrestrial environment and organisms [13]. Microplastic Marine Sciences and Limnology, UNAM, 04510, Mexico, Tel: +52 5556225765; E-mail: [email protected] contamination is of growing concern and has been listed as the sec- ond important scientific topic in the field of environment and ecology Citation: Botello AV, Villanueva SF, Leon D, García-Borquez A, de la Lanza [14]. G, et al. (2020) Microplastics and Bisphenol A (BPA) in Sediments of Coastal Lagoons of Veracruz, Mexico. J Toxicol Cur Res 4: 015. Due to the great importance and concern for this type of contami- Received: March 02, 2020; Accepted: March 09, 2020; Published: March 16, nation, the objective of this study was to determine the presence and 2020 evaluation of microplastics present in sediment samples correspond- Copyright: © 2020 Botello AV, et al. This is an open-access article distributed ing to the Mandinga, Tampamachoco, Alvarado and Verde lagoon under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits un- systems, Veracruz, Mexico, applying the techniques of optical Mi- restricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original croscopy, scanning Electron Microscopy (MEB) for the identifica- author and source are credited. tion of degradation marks of the microplastic samples, as well as the Citation: Botello AV, Villanueva SF, Leon D, García-Borquez A, de la Lanza G, et al. (2020) Microplastics and Bisphenol A (BPA) in Sediments of Coastal Lagoons of Veracruz, Mexico. J Toxicol Cur Res 4: 015. • Page 2 of 7 • analysis by the Infrared Spectrometry (IR) technique for the identifi- Alvarado Lagoon System (ALS): It is located 66 kms southeast of cation of the polymers that comprise them. the port of Veracruz, between geographical coordinates; 18°43’51” and 18°52’40” N; 95° 42’23 ” and 95° 57’25” W [19]. It is limited to Materials and Methods the north by the Gulf of Mexico; to the east by the Gulf of Mexico as Study areas by the complex system of wetlands of Papaloapan, to the south with the municipalities of Tlacotalpan, Acula, Ixmatlahuacan and Lerdo The Lagoon Systems of Mandinga (MLS), Tampamachoco (TLS), de Tejada; to the west with the municipalities of Ignacio de la Llave, Alvarado (ALS) and Laguna Verde (VL) are located in the state of Tlalixcoyan, Medellin and Boca del Río. It is 17km long parallel to Veracruz [15]. The problems they present in common are contamina- the coastline and with a maximum of 4.5 km. Communication with tion by agrochemicals, fertilizers, industrial waste, sewage, mangrove the sea is done through a 0.4 km wide bar [20,21] (Figure 1). felling. The economic activities are based on the fishing of shrimp, ro- balo and crab; its problem is due to the increase in erosion and hauling Verde Lagoon: It is located at a latitude 20° 00 ‘at 19° 01’48’ ‘ and of sediments, environmental damage from fishing vessels; contami- at a length 96° 29’24 “at 95° 48’36”, it has an extension of 3 657 nation by solid waste and sugar mills [15,16] (Figure 1). km 2. It is formed by lagoons with conserved vegetation (wetlands), ocean areas, marshes, estuaries, bays the climate is warm subhumid with rains in summer (286-320mm) and the average annual tempera- ture of 21-28°C. It has multiple linearly separated sandy barriers, as well as shapes and bathymetries gently modified by tidal action and non-marine processes, the Mexican counter current prevail and tropi- cal storms, north and red tides occur. There may be seasonal droughts, so salinity varies from brackish to hypersaline and has freshwater contributions by rivers and lagoons [17] (Figure 1). Sample collection Surface sediments were collected in a network of four stations for each of them, using a Van Veen stainless steel dredge and an epoxy coating of 4 L capacity; selected according to the different morphol- ogies, fluvial and tidal influence, as well as the villages settled on the margins and their possible discharges for each of the stations and were stored in plastic bags for transport to the laboratory. Figure 1: Collection areas and stations of the coastal lagoons of the state of Veracruz. Laboratory analysis Mandinga Lagoon System (MLS): It is located in the state of Ve- The methodology for the identification of microplastics was pro- racruz, between 19° 00 ‘and 19° 06’ north latitude and meridians 96° posed by Gómez [22], which consists of drying the samples, elimina- 02 ‘and 96° 06’ west longitude. The lagoon system has a north-south tion of organic matter, sieving and separation, using a series of sieves orientation while the nearby coast adopts a northwest-southeast di- of 8 different pore sizes, the which are recorded in the range of -2.25 rection, forming the tip of Antón Lizardo. To the northwest, the la- goons are separated from the sea by a barrier of dunes. The lagoon µm to 4.00 µm (taking into account the sedimentary residue known as is associated with the Jamapa River, which is born with the thaws of PAN *), as well as an automatic sieve. The sediments already separat- the Orizaba Peak, runs 150 km; It runs from west to east and receives ed were stored in bags marked with both the station number and the several tributaries of the Huatusco, Cotaxtla, Totolapan rivers, flows sieve number.