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Unraveling the complexities of microplastics and PFAS synergy to foster sustainable environmental remediation and ecosystem protection: A critical review with novel insights
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This review examines how microplastics and PFAS (sometimes called 'forever chemicals') interact in the environment, since both often come from the same everyday products. The authors found that microplastics can carry PFAS on their surface, and when organisms are exposed to both together, the combined toxic effects including oxidative stress and reproductive harm can be worse than either pollutant alone.
• Common daily life products of humans are co-sources of Microplastics and PFASs. • Electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions are key adsorption mechanisms. • MPs, PFAS characteristics, and environmental factors influence their interactions. • Combined toxicity leads to oxidative stress and reproductive system disruption. • Further investigation is needed to develop effective combined removal strategies. Microplastics (MPs) and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have emerged as emerging contaminants, drawing global attention due to their persistence and extensive presence in ecosystems. Although comprehensive studies exist on their individual behavior, their synergistic interactions remain unexplored, necessitating in-depth investigation to understand their impacts on environmental compartments. This review investigates the combined sources of MPs and PFASs, including commonly used daily products of human and wastewater treatment plant effluents, which release approximately 7.2 billion microplastics daily into aquatic environments and PFAS concentrations ranging from 8.1 to 24 µg/person/day. The review also discusses the mechanisms and environmental parameters that govern PFAS sorption over MPs. Studies indicate that the efficiency of PFAS retention increases with smaller, aged, or biofilm covered MPs due to larger surface areas, with adsorption rates varying from 20% to 85% depending on the type of MP and environmental conditions. Furthermore, the review explores the trophic transfer and combined toxicity of these contaminants, demonstrating that MPs act as carriers for PFAS, affecting their distribution, accumulation, and impact within ecosystems. These interactions can severely affect aquatic species, causing intestinal damage, oxidative stress, and disrupted reproductive systems in fish and other organisms. Despite these findings, significant knowledge gaps remain in understanding their interactions in complex ecosystems, particularly in terrestrial environments. Addressing these gaps requires developing standardized detection methods and conducting studies under realistic environmental conditions. Finally, this review suggests that future research should focus on developing combined removal strategies and source abatement measures to effectively manage the associated environmental and health risks.
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The unheeded inherent connections and overlap between microplastics and poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances: A comprehensive review
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This review reveals the overlooked connection between microplastics and PFAS (forever chemicals), showing that these two widespread pollutants often come from the same products and interact in the environment. Microplastics can absorb PFAS onto their surfaces and transport them through water systems, potentially increasing exposure for aquatic organisms and humans. Understanding this overlap is important because the combined effects may be more harmful than either pollutant alone.
The Microplastic–PFAS Nexus: From Co-Occurrence to Combined Toxicity in Aquatic Environments
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This review examines the interconnected environmental behavior of microplastics and PFAS ("forever chemicals"), showing that microplastics can act as carriers, concentrators, and secondary sources of PFAS contamination. Researchers found that co-exposure to both pollutants often produces synergistic toxic effects in aquatic organisms, disrupting processes from photosynthesis to neurological development. The study argues that current regulations assessing these pollutants individually are inadequate and must evolve to address their combined effects.
Interaction of microplastics with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in water: A review of the fate, mechanisms and toxicity
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This review examines how microplastics act as carriers for PFAS ("forever chemicals") in water, with the two pollutants interacting through various chemical mechanisms that affect their movement through the environment. The combined presence of microplastics and PFAS raises concerns about increased toxicity, since microplastics can transport these persistent chemicals into organisms and potentially concentrate their harmful effects.
Combined Toxicity of PFAS and Microplastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: Synergistic, Additive, and Antagonistic Interactions
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Researchers reviewed the combined toxicity of PFAS and microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, finding that while synergistic interactions receive the most attention, additive and antagonistic outcomes are also common and depend on PFAS congener, polymer type, particle size, and species—warning against treating synergy as the default response and calling for standardized mixture-based exposure protocols to enable ecologically realistic risk assessment.
Microplastics as carriers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aquatic environment: interactions and ecotoxicological effects
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics serve as carriers for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), sometimes called forever chemicals, in aquatic environments. The study found that PFAS can attach to microplastic surfaces and accumulate in organisms through the food chain, potentially amplifying the toxic effects of both pollutants. The findings suggest that the combined presence of microplastics and PFAS poses a greater environmental and health risk than either pollutant alone.
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