Development and application of a health-based framework for informing regulatory action in relation to exposure of microplastic particles in California drinking water

Coffin, Scott; Bouwmeester, Hans; Brander, Susanne; Damdimopoulou, Pauliina; Gouin, Todd; Hermabessiere, Ludovic; Khan, Elaine; Koelmans, Albert A.; Lemieux, Christine L.; Teerds, Katja; Wagner, Martin; Weisberg, Stephen B.; Wright, Stephanie

doi:10.1186/s43591-022-00030-6

Microplastics and Nanoplastics

Table 3 Point of departure concentrations for selected endpoints used as input for deriving a human-health screening level. All studies report adverse effects in relation to polystyrene spheres of varying sizes, as summarized in Table 2

From: Development and application of a health-based framework for informing regulatory action in relation to exposure of microplastic particles in California drinking water

Study	Endpoint	Metric used for POD^a	NOAEL^b (mg /kg-day)	LOAEL^b (mg /kg-day)	Best-fit Model^c	BMDS Recommendation^d	Scaled residual for dose group near BMD (unitless)	Scaled residual for control dose group (unitless)	BMDL (mg /kg-day)	BMD (mg /kg-day)	BMDU (mg /kg-day)
Amereh et al. [1]	Luteinizing hormone concentration	LOAEL/10	NA	1	Hill	Viable	0.17	0.17	NA	NA	NA
Amereh et al. [1]	Follicle stimulating hormone concentration	LOAEL/10	NA	1	Exponential 3	Questionable	7 × 10^–5	3.99	NA	NA	NA
Amereh et al. [1]	Testosterone concentration	BMDL	NA	1	Exponential 4	Viable	0.23	0.23	0.26	0.46	Infinity
Amereh et al. [1]	Sperm count	BMDL	NA	1	Hill	Viable	0.30	0.30	0.27	0.41	0.7
Amereh et al. [1]	Sperm motility	BMDL	1	3	Exponential 4	Viable	-0.45	0.12	0.54	0.79	1.2
Amereh et al. [1]	Sperm DNA damage	BMDL	1	3	Polynomial Degree 3	Viable	-1.02	0.49	0.67	0.82	1.2
Amereh et al. [1]	Sperm maturity	BMDL	1	3	Exponential 3	Viable	0.85	-0.20	0.78	0.97	1.6
Amereh et al. [1]	Sperm viability	BMDL	NA	1	Polynomial Degree 3	Viable	-0.85	1.01	0.85	1.0	1.4
Amereh et al. [1]	Sperm Deformity	BMDL	1	3	Polynomial Degree 3	Viable	0.89	-0.51	1.0	1.2	1.8
An et al. [3]	Anti-Mullerian hormone concentration	BMDL	0.015	0.15	Exponential 4	Viable	0.090	-0.077	0.14	0.20	0.32
Deng et al. [29]	Liver Condition Index	BMDL	2.6	13	Exponential 4	Viable	-0.18	-0.57	0.68	2.5	39
Deng et al. [29]	Liver Condition Index	BMDL	2.6	13	Polynomial Degree 3	Viable	-0.01	0.71	4.98	10	13
Hou et al. [47]	Testis Weight	LOAEL/10	NA	0.017	Exponential 3	Questionable	0.08	2.46	NA	NA	NA
Hou et al. [47]	Sperm deformity	NOAEL	0.17	1.7	Hill	Questionable	7 × 10^–6	0.74	NA	NA	NA
Hou et al. [48]	Anti-Mullerian hormone concentration	BMDL	0.083	0.83	Exponential 5	Viable	-0.022	0.019	0.025	0.034	0.14
Li et al. [64]	Sperm deformity	NOAEL	0.83	8.3	Linear	Questionable	1.46	-1.04	NA	NA	NA
Xie et al. [124]	Body weight	LOAEL/10	NA	0.43	Exponential 2	Questionable	-0.02	0.42	NA	NA	NA
Xie et al. [124]	Sperm count	LOAEL/10	NA	0.43	Exponential 4	Questionable	0.77	1.79	NA	NA	NA
Xie et al. [124]	Sperm deformity	LOAEL/10	NA	0.43	Exponential 4	Questionable	-0.28	-1.37	NA	NA	NA
Xie et al. [124]	Testosterone concentration	LOAEL/10	NA	0.43	Polynomial Degree 3	Questionable	0.13	2.07	NA	NA	NA

NA Not Available
^aWhen viable BMD models were recommended by BMDS software, BMDs were used as the POD. If not, the NOAEL was used. When NOAELs were unavailable, the LOAEL was used with an UF of 10
^bStudies did not always explicitly refer to exposure concentrations as LOAELs and NOAELs and were often inferred from text and figures based on statistical relationships relative to control
^c Models selected for use met all of the default threshold criteria set by BMDS software, such as constant variance, goodness of fit, ratio of BMD/BMDL, absolute residual of controls and exposure, etc. and had the lowest Akaike’s Information Criteria of models tested (US EPA [36]). All models are based on a normal coefficient of variance
^dEPA’s BMDS software provides a recommendation for the viability of the best-fit model. When models were recommended as ‘viable’, BMDs were used. Otherwise, NOAELs or LOAELs were used as point-of-departures

Back to article page