Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology
Final Year Report (Diploma of Chemical Engineering) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah - 2025
Include bibliographical reference
The increasing use of microplastics has raised environmental concerns, as it can endanger aquatic ecosystems and affect human health. This study investigates the toxic effects of polystyrene microplastics on zebrafish embryos. It focuses on analysing the characteristics of polystyrene and determining the morphology and hatching rate of zebrafish embryos exposed to different concentrations of polystyrene. In this experiment, polystyrene samples and zebrafish embryos were prepared. The polystyrene was weighed into different concentrations for each row and placed in 24-well plates. Then, one zebrafish embryo along with 1 ml of embryo media was added to each well. The embryos were observed daily using an inverted microscope for five consecutive days. Additionally, the embryo plates were incubated at 28°C. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy was used to characterize the polystyrene. The results confirmed the purity of the polystyrene and accurately identified its chemical structure. Observations of the embryos revealed that polystyrene had no effect on their morphology but caused delayed hatching at all concentrations. Furthermore, as the concentration of polystyrene increased, the heartbeat rate of the embryos decreased. This reduction in heartbeat rate could negatively impact the hatching rate due to reduced activity.
THE0010781 (Local)
Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology--Dissertations
Universities and colleges--Dissertations Theses--Dissertations