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Effects of microplastic and engineered nanomaterials on inflammatory bowel disease: A review

Chemosphere 2023 45 citations

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This review examines how microplastics and engineered nanomaterials affect people with inflammatory bowel disease, who may be especially vulnerable to these environmental particles. Researchers found that microplastics could worsen intestinal inflammation, while some nanomaterials shifted from mildly harmful to therapeutic effects depending on gut health status. The findings highlight the need for more research on how environmental particles affect people with pre-existing gut conditions.

Body Systems

Many microplastics and engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) exist in the daily environment. The intestinal impact of these exogenous fine particles on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) people may be unpredictable. In this paper, we reviewed the recent progress in the effect of microplastics and ENMs on IBD individuals. We also compared and summarized the various roles of microplastics and ENMs in healthy and IBD bodies, including factors such as particle size, particle properties, intestinal microenvironment, interaction with the intestinal barrier, and molecular mechanism. Our literature review showed that microplastics could be accomplices in the development of IBD and could cause severe intestinal inflammation. Moreover, ENMs could elicit diverse exposure outcomes in healthy and IBD bodies. Silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO NPs), titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs), and graphene oxide (GO) displayed slight to adverse effects that turned into apparent adverse effects, while zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) showed a toxic effect that became therapeutic. A deeper understanding of the impact of microplastics and ENMs on the high-risk group was needed, and we proposed several insights into the research priorities and directions.

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