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The evolving interface of aged microplastics and heavy metals: implications for environmental fate and toxicity
Summary
This review examined how microplastics interact with heavy metals in the environment, focusing on how plastics serve as carriers that increase metal mobility and bioavailability. Researchers found that factors like polymer aging, biofilm formation, and water chemistry significantly affect how efficiently microplastics absorb metals, and that the combined exposure creates compounded toxicity including oxidative stress and organ damage in organisms. The findings highlight the need for more research on the long-term and multigenerational effects of these combined pollutants.
Microplastics (MPs) ubiquitously contaminate ecosystems and serve as efficient vectors for heavy metals (HMs), amplifying their environmental mobility and bioavailability. Although the individual toxicological impacts of MPs and HMs are well-documented, their combined effects, driven by complex adsorption dynamics and synergistic toxicity, remain poorly understood. This review systematically synthesizes recent advances in MP-HM interactions, with a focus on adsorption mechanisms such as electrostatic attraction, biofilm facilitation, and co-precipitation. Key factors governing adsorption efficiency, including polymer crystallinity, environmental aging, biofilm formation, and water chemistry, are critically examined. Furthermore, we elucidate the compounded toxicity of MP-HM complexes across aquatic and terrestrial organisms, manifesting as oxidative stress, multi-organ damage, and endocrine disruption, with bioaccumulation risks that propagate through food chains to humans. By identifying critical knowledge gaps, particularly regarding long-term ecotoxicological outcomes and transgenerational effects, this review provides a mechanistic framework to guide future research and evidence-based policy for mitigating composite pollution in a rapidly changing environment.