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Urine Diagnostics as a Scalable Platform for Assessing Microplastics and Nanoplastics as Environmental Exposures
Summary
Urine is proposed as a scalable, non-invasive matrix for monitoring systemic microplastic and nanoplastic exposure, with early evidence of MNPs detectable in human urine and optical-computational methods offering high-throughput potential. Establishing reliable urinary biomonitoring would enable longitudinal population studies that are essential for understanding cumulative plastic body burden and its health consequences.
Microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants detected in multiple human tissues, yet scalable, non-invasive methods for assessing systemic exposure remain limited. Urine offers a promising diagnostic matrix due to its non-invasive collection, repeatability, and ability to reflect renal filtration of circulating particulates. This perspective reviews the advantages of urine-based monitoring, summarizes early evidence of MNPs in human urine, highlights limitations of current detection methods, and discusses the need for scalable, contamination-controlled platforms. Optical and computational approaches may enable high-throughput analysis, supporting longitudinal studies and population-level environmental health surveillance. Keywords: microplastics, nanoplastics, urine diagnostics, environmental exposure, biomonitoring, scalable detection