# Lipidomic alterations in oysters caused by environmentally relevant exposure to microplastics and estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals

## TL;DR

This study shows how microplastics and estrogen-like chemicals affect oyster lipid levels, with estrogens having a stronger impact than microplastics.

## Contribution

The study reveals the differential and combined effects of microplastics and estrogens on oyster lipidomes at environmentally relevant concentrations.

## Key findings

- Estrogens had a stronger effect on oyster lipidomes than microplastics.
- Oyster digestive glands showed a stronger response to stress compared to other tissues.
- Combined exposure to microplastics and estrogens did not cause greater stress than individual exposure.

## Abstract

Microplastics and estrogens affect oysters differently.

Estrogens are more bioavailable than microplastics in oysters.

Amplification of EEDC effects by microplastics was low in molluscs.

Incubation of EEDCs with smooth surfaced PE-MPs did not increase adsorption.

Oysters showed different adaptive responses at low MPs and EEDCs exposure.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10646-026-03055-2.

There is a ubiquitous co-occurrence of microplastics (MPs) and estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EEDCs) in aquatic environments. Their combined presence may induce sub-lethal stress in aquatic organisms, like molluscs, which may adapt to the stress through adjusting the lipidome. This study explored the individual and combined effects of polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs) and a mixture of EEDCs at environmentally realistic concentrations on the lipidome of the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata). After seven days exposure, lipids were measured in the digestive glands and gonads using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. Permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) revealed the lipidome of oysters exhibited treatment differences with interactions between sex and tissue type. Subsequent post-hoc analysis revealed the male digestive gland to be significantly more responsive than the other tissues tested. An increase in cholesterols and aldehydes in all treatments compared to controls was ascribed to an adaptive response to transient oxidative stress in oysters, which was alleviated by increased food intake. There was a significantly greater effect of the EEDCs mixture than PE-MPs in oysters. The combined oxidative stress of PE-MPs and EEDCs from co-exposure did not exceed the individual effects of PE-MPs and EEDCs, which may relate to low exposure concentrations of PE-MPs, selective rejection of MPs in pseudofeces, or poor vector role of smooth surfaced PE-MPs.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10646-026-03055-2.