New Insights in the Biodegradability and the Ecotoxicological Effects of Solar Products Containing Mineral and Chemical UV-Filters on Marine Zoo- and Phytoplanktons: An in silico and in vitro Study

Background: Cosmetic formulations, and particularly solar products which contain mineral and chemical UV-filters, are often suspected of causing harmful effects on marine fauna and flora. After the publication of our work in 2019 concerning the ecotoxicological effects of such formulations on corals (Seriatopora hystrix), we here provide some new information about the biodegradability and the ecotoxicological effects of these products on marine zoo- and phytoplankton. Therefore, we choose to realize in silico and in vitro studies of the biodegradability of several solar products but also to evaluate the ecotoxicological effects of these products on one phytoplankton, i.e. Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and one zooplankton, i.e. Acartia tonsa, of a great importance for sea species survival (notably as sources of food). Materials and methods: Two different approaches were used to study the biodegradability of the tested products: One in silico method and an in vitro one. 2 solar products were involved in the in silico study which consisted in the determination of the degradation factor (DF) of each ingredient of the tested formulas in order to finally obtain their estimated biodegradability percentage. Already available data concerning each ingredient coupled to a computer model developed with one of our partners were used to achieve this study. The in vitro study involved 8 formulas containing UV-filters and was led by following the OECD 301 F guidelines. Ecotoxicological studies of 7 of the formulas containing UV-filters were for their part realized by following the ISO 10253 guidelines for the experiments led with Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and the ISO 14669 guidelines for the experiments led with Acartia tonsa. In these studies, the effect of each tested product on crustaceans’ mortality and algal growth inhibition was assessed. Results: The in silico study predicted that formulas containing chemical UV-filters display a high biodegradability (superior to the threshold value of 60% given by the OECD 301 F guidelines). In the in vitro part of our work, the 8 tested formulas showed a biodegradability slightly inferior to the one predicted in the in silico experiments. Therefore, in order to evaluate if these calculated biodegradability value could have significant harmful effects on zoo- or phytoplankton, we studied the effect of our products