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Common laboratory reagents: Are they a double-edged sword in microplastics research?
The Science of The Total Environment2023
29 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 45
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
V.C. Shruti,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
V.C. Shruti,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
V.C. Shruti,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
V.C. Shruti,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
V.C. Shruti,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
V.C. Shruti,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Ignacio Elizalde,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Ignacio Elizalde,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Fermín Pérez‐Guevara,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
V.C. Shruti,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Gurusamy Kutralam-Muniasamy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
V.C. Shruti,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy
V.C. Shruti,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Ignacio Elizalde,
V.C. Shruti,
V.C. Shruti,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Ignacio Elizalde,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Priyadarsi D. Roy,
Priyadarsi D. Roy
Summary
This study tested whether common laboratory reagents themselves are contaminated with microplastics and found measurable plastic particles in several widely used chemicals, raising the concern that lab reagents could be an overlooked source of contamination in microplastic research.
Understanding and communicating instances of microplastic contamination is critical for enabling plastic-free transitions. While microplastics research uses a variety of commercial chemicals and laboratory liquids, the impact of microplastics on these materials remains unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, the current study investigated microplastics abundance and their characteristics in laboratory waters (distilled, deionized, and Milli-Q), salts (NaCl and CaCl), chemical solutions (HO, KOH and NaOH), and ethanol from various research laboratories and commercial brands. The mean abundance of microplastics in water, salt, chemical solutions, and ethanol samples was 30.21 ± 30.40 (L), 24.00 ± 19.00 (10 g), 187.00 ± 45.00 (L), and 27.63 ± 9.53 (L), respectively. Data comparisons revealed significant discrepancies between the samples in terms of microplastic abundance. Fibers (81 %) were the most common microplastics, followed by fragments (16 %) and films (3 %); 95 % of them were <500 μm, with the smallest and largest particle sizes recorded being 26 μm and 2.30 mm, respectively. Microplastic polymers discovered included polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, nylon, acrylic, paint chips, cellophane, and viscose. These findings lay the groundwork for identifying common laboratory reagents as a potential contributor to microplastic contamination in samples, and we offer solutions that should be integrated into data processing to produce accurate results. Taken together, this study shows that commonly used reagents not only play a key role in the microplastic separation process but also contain microplastic contamination themselves, requiring the attention of researchers to promote quality control during microplastic analysis and commercial suppliers in formulating novel prevention strategies.