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Effects of microplastics and arsenic on plants: Interactions, toxicity and environmental implications
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This review examines how microplastics and arsenic interact in soil and their combined effects on plant health. When both pollutants are present together, they can have amplified toxic effects on plants, affecting growth, nutrient uptake, and stress responses. Since plants absorb these contaminants from soil, the interaction between microplastics and arsenic could increase human exposure to both pollutants through food crops.
Microplastics are emerging pollutants that are ubiquitously present in environment. Occurrence and dispersion of microplastics in the soil can pose a considerable risk to soil health and biodiversity, including the plants grown in the soil. Uptake and bioaccumulation of microplastics can have detrimental effects on different plant species. Additionally, the co-presence of microplastics and arsenic can cause synergistic, antagonistic, or potentiating toxic impacts on plants. However, limited studies are available on the combined effects of microplastics and arsenic on plants. This paper elucidates both the individual and synergistic effects of microplastics and arsenic on plants. At the outset, the paper highlighted the presence and degradation of microplastics in soil. Subsequently, the interactions between microplastics and plants, accumulation, and influences of microplastics on plant growth and metabolism were explained with underlying mechanisms. Combined effects of microplastics and arsenic on plant growth, metabolism, and toxicity were discussed thereafter. Combined toxic effects of microplastics and arsenic on plants can have detrimental implications on environment, ecosystems and biodiversity. Further investigations on food chain and human health are needed in the context of microplastic-arsenic interactions.
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Coexistence of microplastics and heavy metals in soil: Occurrence, transport, key interactions and effect on plants
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This review examines how microplastics and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic interact in soil, often creating combined toxic effects on plants that differ from either pollutant alone. These interactions are relevant to human health because contaminated crops can transfer both microplastics and heavy metals to people through the food supply.
Coupled effects of microplastics and heavy metals on plants: Uptake, bioaccumulation, and environmental health perspectives
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This review examines how microplastics and heavy metals work together to harm plants when both are present in soil. Microplastics can absorb heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic, and when plants take up these contaminated particles, the combined toxic effect is worse than either pollutant alone. This is concerning for human health because crops grown in contaminated soil could carry both microplastics and concentrated heavy metals into the food supply.
Interactive impacts of microplastics and arsenic on agricultural soil and plant traits
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This study tested how microplastics interact with arsenic, a toxic metal, in agricultural soil growing lettuce. While microplastics alone slightly promoted plant growth, combining them with arsenic significantly reduced lettuce size and health. The findings suggest that microplastics in farm soil could worsen the effects of other pollutants like arsenic, potentially affecting the safety and quality of leafy vegetables that people eat.
Microplastic particles increase arsenic toxicity to rice seedlings
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Researchers studied how polystyrene and polytetrafluoroethylene microplastics interact with arsenic to affect rice seedling growth. They found that microplastics alone reduced plant biomass and inhibited photosynthesis, while the combination with arsenic at higher concentrations amplified the toxic effects on root activity and cell membranes. The study reveals that microplastic contamination in agricultural settings may worsen the impact of other pollutants on food crops.
The combined toxicity of polystyrene microplastic and arsenate: From the view of biochemical process in wheat seedlings (Triticum aestivum L.)
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Researchers found that when wheat seedlings were exposed to both arsenic and polystyrene microplastics together, the microplastics reduced arsenic uptake in roots but dramatically increased arsenic transport to the above-ground parts of the plant — by up to 1,000%. This combined exposure caused more oxidative stress and damage to the plants' photosynthetic systems than arsenic alone. The findings suggest that microplastics in contaminated soil could increase how much toxic metal ends up in the edible parts of crops.
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