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Microplastics as vectors for environmental contaminants in the food chain: Assessing the combined toxicological effects and bioavailability
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This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics act as carriers for environmental pollutants including heavy metals, organic chemicals, and microbial agents as they move through food chains. Researchers detail how polymer type, particle size, and environmental conditions influence the binding and release of these contaminants. The study highlights that the combined toxicity of microplastics together with the pollutants they carry may be greater than either would cause alone.
The global proliferation of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) has raised concerns not only for their persistence in ecosystems but also for their role as transport agents of environmental contaminants through food chains. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms driving the sorption and desorption of diverse pollutants-including hydrophobic organics, metals, additives, and microbial agents-onto plastic particles, emphasizing how polymer composition, particle size, environmental aging, and eco-corona formation influence these interactions. Particular attention is paid to the transfer of MPs/NPs across trophic levels and their documented presence in various food items consumed by humans. The paper evaluates how ingestion may lead to desorption of contaminants in gastrointestinal environments, with in vitro studies demonstrating variable bioaccessibility depending on physicochemical and digestive conditions. Furthermore, the review synthesizes findings on cellular and systemic toxicity, highlighting how exposure to MPs/NPs-alone or in combination with other contaminants-can disrupt oxidative balance, immune responses, metabolic regulation, and reproductive health. Notably, combined exposures often result in synergistic or antagonistic effects, contingent on concentration, particle properties, and biological context. The potential for translocation of smaller particles and their associated chemicals across epithelial barriers introduces an additional vector of concern for internal exposure. Methodological variability in contamination assessment, limited real-world exposure data, and unresolved questions regarding long-term health consequences underscore the need for standardization and further investigation. This review aims to inform future risk assessments by integrating current knowledge of contaminant transport, bioavailability, and co-toxicological effects related to MPs/NPs in environmental and food systems.
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Toxicological interactions of microplastics/nanoplastics and environmental contaminants: Current knowledge and future perspectives
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This review examines how the combined presence of micro- and nanoplastics with other environmental contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals affects toxicity. Researchers found that plastic particles can alter the bioavailability and toxic effects of co-occurring pollutants, sometimes increasing harm to organisms, which complicates environmental risk assessment.
A review on the combined toxicological effects of microplastics and their attached pollutants
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as carriers for other environmental pollutants — including heavy metals and persistent organic chemicals — and how these combinations produce toxic effects in organisms that are more severe than either contaminant alone. The findings highlight a complex, layered toxicity problem that affects microbes, invertebrates, and vertebrates across marine and terrestrial environments.
Micro(nano)plastics: Unignorable vectors for organisms
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This review examines the role of micro- and nanoplastics as vectors for contaminants — including heavy metals, organic pollutants, and pathogens — in aquatic and terrestrial environments. It synthesizes evidence on how plastic particles can adsorb, transport, and release harmful substances, amplifying their ecological and health risks beyond the physical effects of the particles alone.
A comprehensive review on microplastics as vectors of chemical and biological pollutants
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This review pulls together existing research showing that tiny plastic particles (microplastics) don't just pollute on their own — they can act like sponges, soaking up other harmful chemicals and even microbes from their surroundings and carrying them into the environment and food chain. This matters because plastic-bound pollutants appear to be more toxic and more likely to build up in living organisms than those same pollutants floating freely, raising concerns about how much these "hitchhiking" toxins could affect human health through contaminated food and water. The authors call for more real-world testing to better understand these risks and guide future safety regulations.
Microplastics as carriers of toxic pollutants: Source, transport, and toxicological effects
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This review summarizes how microplastics absorb and carry toxic pollutants like persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, and antibiotics through the environment, concentrating these harmful chemicals as they move through ecosystems. When organisms ingest these contaminated particles, the pollutants can build up in the food chain and eventually reach humans, making microplastics not just a physical hazard but also a chemical delivery system.
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