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Nanoplastics: An Emerging Threat to Human Health—A Perspective Review
Summary
Researchers propose an 'Exposome–Microbiome–Immune' framework for nanoplastic risk assessment, arguing that validated nanoFTIR and SERS detection, multigenerational animal studies, and longitudinal human cohorts are necessary to shift the field from descriptive toxicology toward systems-level understanding of sub-100 nm plastic hazards.
Nanoplastics (NPs, <100 nm) have emerged as nano-scale contaminants with superior mobility and biological barrier-crossing capacity, yet risk assessment fails due to unstandardized analytical methods and a lack of realistic exposure data. This perspective proposes an “Exposome–Microbiome–Immune” (EMI) framework as a One Health paradigm to integrate detection, toxicokinetics, and systemic effects. We prioritize the following actions: (i) validated nano–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (nanoFTIR) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for environmental/human monitoring; (ii) multigenerational studies in zebrafish and organoids; (iii) longitudinal cohorts for biomonitoring. Without shifting from descriptive reviews to systems toxicology, NP risk will remain underestimated.