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Molecular Mechanisms of Cytotoxic and Carcinogenic Effects of Microplastics on In Vitro Cell Models
Original title: Молекулярні Механізми Цитотоксичного Та Канцерогенного Впливу Мікропластику На Клітинні Моделі in Vitro
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This review paper pulls together lab studies showing how tiny plastic particles (micro- and nanoplastics) can damage cells — by triggering harmful oxygen molecules that cause "oxidative stress," disrupting the cell's energy-making mitochondria, and even harming DNA. These findings matter because they suggest a possible way that the plastic particles we're increasingly exposed to through food, water, and air could contribute to cell damage and disease risk, though this research was done in cell cultures in a lab, not in living people, so more studies are needed to confirm real-world health effects.
This study analyzes micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) effects on in vitro cell cultures, focusing on oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and genotoxic outcomes. Reactive oxygen species overproduction, mitochondrial depolarization, impaired oxidative phosphorylation, ATP loss, membrane damage, mitophagy, and additive-driven DNA damage and genetic instability are key mechanisms of injury.
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