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Oxidative and Inflammatory Potential of Nano/Microplastics in Living Organisms
Summary
This review examines the growing body of evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics trigger oxidative stress and inflammatory responses across a wide range of animals, though the findings are often inconsistent and sometimes contradictory. The authors conclude that plastic particle weathering can alter these effects in complex ways, and call for standardized, systematic research to establish clearer dose-response relationships before firm regulatory conclusions can be drawn.
Microplastics and nanoplastics (MPs/NPs) have been receiving significant attention in recent years, especially regarding their potential interactions with living organisms. Rapid increase in publications focusing on interactions of MPs/NPs with living organisms indicate growing concern within scientific community, but also from regulatory stakeholders and general public, about potential health consequences of such exposures. The current majority of research reports discuss link between the effects of MPs/NPs exposure and changes in oxidative metabolism and inflammatory responses, however, without clear consensus and frequently with contradictory results. Furthermore, there is an ongoing debate in the scientific community whether, and in what magnitude, MPs/NPs effects can be intensified or mitigated by weathering processes. As our understanding of the direct and (even more about) indirect, potential effects of MPs/NPs interaction with living organisms is limited, the prevalent opinion is to “error on the safe side” and consider MPs/NPs as a potential threat to living organisms. Therefore, collecting information and establishing clear links between exposures and consequences in different taxa should remain a priority from both regulatory and scientific perspective. This chapter summarizes current knowledge of inflammatory and oxidative potential of microplastic and nanoplastic particles on different levels of biological complexity.