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Uncovering the nexus of human health hazards of nanoplastics, gut-dysbiosis and antibiotic-resistance
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This review provides the first comprehensive synthesis specifically linking nanoplastic exposure to gut dysbiosis and antibiotic resistance gene propagation, finding that nanoplastics suppress beneficial microbes while fostering pathogens and creating conditions that promote horizontal transfer of resistance genes.
Nanoplastics (1-1000 nm) (NPs) represent a novel and insidious class of emerging contaminants with the potential to profoundly disrupt gut microbial ecology and accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance two critical and converging threats to global health. While prior studies have examined the toxicokinetics of NPs and their general microbial interactions, this review provides the first comprehensive synthesis specifically focused on the nexus between NPs, gut dysbiosis, and the propagation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). This review highlights how NPs alter gut microbiota composition, suppressing beneficial microbes while fostering opportunistic pathogens and how such imbalances may contribute to human health issues. Importantly, emerging evidence also suggests that NPs may serve as unrecognized vectors for horizontal gene transfer (HGT), enabling the rapid dissemination of ARGs via conjugation, transformation, transduction, and extracellular vesicles within the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, this review also identifies urgent methodological gaps in detecting NPs in biological matrices and the environment, as well as assessing their mechanistic impacts, calling for innovation in analytical approaches. By presenting an interdisciplinary perspective that bridges nanotoxicology, microbiome science, and antimicrobial resistance, this article sheds light on an underexplored yet urgent frontier in environmental health, offering novel insights to guide future research, risk assessment, and policy development.
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Microplastics—The Microbiota Interactions: Mechanisms, Multi-Omics Insights and Health Implications
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics interact with microbial communities across terrestrial, aquatic, and gut environments, synthesizing evidence from in vitro, in vivo, and environmental studies showing that MP exposure drives dysbiosis, impairs immune function, and accelerates the spread of antibiotic resistance genes.
The ant that may well destroy a whole dam: a systematic review of the health implication of nanoplastics/microplastics through gut microbiota
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This systematic review summarizes existing research on how nanoplastics and microplastics disrupt gut bacteria in various organisms. The findings show that plastic particle exposure consistently alters gut microbiome composition, which in turn affects the host's immune function, metabolism, and overall health. These gut bacteria changes may be a key pathway through which microplastics harm human health.
How microplastics and nanoplastics shape antibiotic resistance?
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This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics act as vectors for antibiotic resistance genes, facilitating their spread through environmental and biological systems by creating selective pressure and hosting microbial communities that exchange resistance determinants.
Microplastics Versus Microbiome: The Infantile Gut’s Battle for Health
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This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics disrupt the developing gut microbiome in infants, covering potential effects on microbial stabilization, antibiotic resistance gene transfer through biofilm formation, and implications for long-term metabolic and immune health.
Unraveling the effect of micro/nanoplastics on the occurrence and horizontal transfer of environmental antibiotic resistance genes: Advances, mechanisms and future prospects
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This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. The tiny plastic particles create conditions that help bacteria exchange resistance genes more easily by generating oxidative stress, making cell membranes more permeable, and providing surfaces where resistant bacteria can form communities. This is a growing public health concern because antibiotic-resistant infections are increasingly difficult to treat.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.