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Lab-on-a-chip systems for microplastic and nanoplastic sampling, detection, characterization and bioassessment.
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Tiny plastic particles called microplastics and nanoplastics are everywhere in our environment, but scientists still struggle to detect them and understand exactly how they affect our health. This paper reviews a promising technology—credit-card-sized "lab-on-a-chip" devices—that could make it much easier and faster to capture, identify, and test how these particles impact human cells and tissues. While this research doesn't reveal new health risks itself, it points toward better tools that could soon give us clearer, more reliable answers about whether the plastics in our food, water, and air are actually harming us.
Microplastics and nanoplastics are ubiquitous environmental contaminants, with growing evidence of their ecological and human health risks. However, a clear understanding of their impacts remains limited due to challenges in isolating MPs/NPs from complex environmental and biological matrices, insufficient sensitivity at the submicron scale, lack of standardized testing protocols, and inconsistent biological outcomes arising from variability in particle properties and cell models. Lab-on-a-chip (LoC) systems offer an integrated solution by combining automated sample handling, on-chip particle enrichment, multimodal characterization, and physiologically relevant culture models under controlled microenvironments. This review first examines current analytical techniques for MPs/NPs, followed by a detailed analysis of state-of-the-art LoC strategies for particle sampling, detection, characterization, and biological impact assessments. From filtration and density-based separation for sample preparation to advanced on-chip enrichment and detection techniques such as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-coupled microfluidic platforms, we evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, identify analytical bottlenecks, and provide directions for system integration to improve sensitivity, specificity, and throughput. For biological impact evaluation, we compare 2D monolayers, co-cultures, organoids, and organ-on-a-chip models, highlighting sources of experimental variation and providing guidelines for improved reproducibility and relevance. Ultimately, we aim to outline future directions for leveraging the advantages of LoC systems to enable high-throughput, standardized and meaningful ecological analysis of MPs/NPs, advancing their potential for long-term environmental monitoring of plastic pollution as well as human toxicity screening and health impact assessment.
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This review paper summarizes existing research on how microplastics may affect human health, including the limits of current lab and animal studies. It discusses "organ-on-a-chip" devices, small lab systems using human cells grown in 3D, as a possible better way to study how microplastics interact with the body.
Emerging Analytical Methodologies for Micro- and Nano-Plastics Detection in Human Samples: Analytical Challenges and Health Risk Perspectives
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Scientists have found tiny plastic particles (microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics) throughout human organs and body fluids, but this review of existing research shows we still lack reliable, standardized tools to accurately measure them—different labs get different results depending on how they prepare and test samples. While lab studies suggest very small plastic particles can cause cell stress and inflammation, there isn't yet solid evidence directly linking plastic exposure to specific diseases in people—so the biggest takeaway is that we urgently need better testing methods before we can truly understand the health risks these particles pose.
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Scientists keep finding tiny plastic particles in human tissue, but measuring them accurately is surprisingly hard, different labs use different methods and get different results. This paper explains why better, more standardized testing tools are urgently needed before we can truly understand how much plastic is in our bodies and what it might be doing to our health.
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Scientists are developing tiny, portable lab-on-a-chip devices that could detect microplastics in water in real time, replacing today's slow, manual lab testing. This review paper summarizes existing research on these mini-detection tools, which combine smart particle-sorting techniques with light-based sensors and AI to spot plastic particles automatically. Faster, more widespread microplastic monitoring matters because it could help us better understand how much of this pollution ends up in our water—and potentially in our bodies—so we can track risks and respond more quickly.
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This review paper summarizes existing research on tiny plastic particles called microplastics and how scientists detect them in the environment. Microplastics are a growing concern because they contaminate our air, water, and food, potentially affecting human health when we breathe or eat them. The researchers found that new, cheaper detection methods could help us better monitor these plastic particles and understand their impact on our health and environment.
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