Papers

Amplification of benzo[a]pyrene toxicity persistence in earthworms by polystyrene nanoplastics: From organismal health to molecular responses

This study found that nanoplastics can make a common cancer-causing pollutant (benzo[a]pyrene) more persistent and toxic in soil. Earthworms exposed to the pollutant carried on nanoplastics showed greater oxidative damage than those exposed to the pollutant alone. This matters because nanoplastics in the environment may act as carriers that amplify the harmful effects of other toxic chemicals.

Cross-level technologies for exploring nanoplastics to amplify cadmium immunotoxicity: Endpoint identification and kinetic model construction

Molecular mechanisms of nano-sized polystyrene plastics induced cytotoxicity and immunotoxicity in Eisenia fetida

Researchers studied how polystyrene nanoplastics affect earthworm immune cells and found that exposure caused significant oxidative stress, DNA damage, and weakened immune function. The nanoplastics physically bound to and damaged lysozyme, a key immune protein, impairing the earthworms' ability to fight off infections. Since earthworms are essential soil organisms, this immune damage could have cascading effects on soil health and the agricultural systems that humans depend on.

New molecular mechanism of nanoplastics affecting cadmium protein toxicity: Conformational response and differential binding of human serum albumin

Researchers showed that cadmium alone disrupts the structure and transport function of human serum albumin (the blood's main protein carrier), and that co-exposure with nanoplastics — which form a protein corona by binding albumin to their surface — further exacerbates these structural disruptions and enzyme activity losses, raising concerns about combined nanoplastic-heavy metal toxicity.

Redefining the synergistic toxicity of nano-plastics and cadmium in earthworm coelomocytes: the mechanism of α-amylase molecular docking orientation and energy crisis

Researchers exposed earthworm immune cells (coelomocytes) to polystyrene nanoplastics combined with the heavy metal cadmium, finding that nanoplastics act as carriers that amplify cadmium uptake and worsen oxidative stress, energy metabolism disruption, and enzyme damage beyond what cadmium causes alone.

Review of the toxic effects and mechanisms of polystyrene micro/nanoplastics across multiple animal species

This review comprehensively examines the toxic effects of polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics across marine animals, freshwater species, soil organisms, and mammals. Researchers found that these particles can cause damage at multiple biological levels, affecting the digestive, respiratory, nervous, reproductive, and circulatory systems. The study highlights the widespread environmental presence of polystyrene plastics and the need to better understand how they harm living organisms.

Polystyrene nanoplastics and benzo[a]pyrene co-exposure differentially impacts earthworm intra- and extracellular lysozyme

Researchers studied how polystyrene nanoplastics interact with the toxic pollutant benzo[a]pyrene in earthworms and found a surprising dual effect. At the cellular level, nanoplastics actually reduced oxidative stress caused by the pollutant alone, but at the molecular level they worked together to impair a key immune enzyme called lysozyme. The findings reveal that nanoplastics can simultaneously protect and harm organisms depending on the biological scale being examined.

New regulatory mechanisms of polystyrene nanoplastics on the ecological risk of zinc: Cellular oxidative injury and molecular toxicity mechanisms in soil sentinel organisms (Eisenia fetida)

Researchers investigated how nanoplastics and zinc interact to affect earthworm cells and a key antioxidant defense enzyme. While nanoplastics alone had minimal effect, combining them with zinc dramatically increased cell death beyond what zinc caused on its own, and molecular modeling showed nanoplastics can physically bind to and potentially block the antioxidant enzyme. The findings suggest that nanoplastics may worsen the toxicity of heavy metals in soil by interfering with organisms' natural defense mechanisms.

Nanoplastics composite norfloxacin induced changes in conformation and function of lysozyme and differential effects of co-exposure contamination

Researchers used spectroscopy and molecular docking to show that nanoplastics and the antibiotic norfloxacin form stable co-aggregates that bind near the active site of lysozyme, reducing its enzymatic activity by nearly 40% and altering the protein's secondary structure more severely than either contaminant alone.

Compound effect and mechanism of oxidative damage induced by nanoplastics and benzo [a] pyrene

Researchers examined how polystyrene nanoplastics and a common environmental pollutant called benzo[a]pyrene work together to cause oxidative damage in earthworm cells. They found that the two contaminants had a synergistic toxic effect, with combined exposure producing significantly higher levels of cell-damaging reactive oxygen species than either pollutant alone. The study suggests that nanoplastics may enhance the harmful effects of other soil pollutants by altering how they interact with living cells.

New mechanistic insights of nanoplastics synergistic cadmium induced overactivation of trypsin: Joint analysis from protein multi-level conformational changes and computational modeling

Researchers used spectroscopy, enzyme assays, and computational modeling to show that nanoplastics form a protein corona around cadmium ions that enhances cadmium's structural disruption of trypsin, causing enzyme overactivation (227% of baseline) — a mechanism by which nanoplastics can amplify the toxicity of co-occurring heavy metals on digestive proteins.

Molecular mechanisms of ciprofloxacin-loaded nanoplastics on human serum albumin: Protein denaturation and binding site recognition

Surface modification of hierarchically porous wood derived cellulose sponges with remarkable compressibility and recyclability for efficient microplastic removal

From Carriers to Mitigators: Environmental Aging Unexpectedly Transforms Nanoplastics into Limiters of Cadmium Bioavailability in Osteoblasts

Researchers discovered that environmentally aged nanoplastics can unexpectedly reduce cadmium toxicity in bone cells, challenging the common assumption that nanoplastics always worsen heavy metal exposure. The aged nanoplastics effectively bound cadmium ions into larger aggregates that limited cellular uptake, suggesting that environmental aging can transform nanoplastics from carriers of toxic metals into limiters of their bioavailability.

A Study of the Toxic Effects of Microplastic Pollution on Aquatic Organisms and a Methodology for Dynamic Assessment

Researchers used stereomicroscopy and FTIR to characterize microplastics in aquatic samples and proposed a dynamic assessment methodology combining pollution risk index, pollution load index, and ecological risk index. The combined approach provided a more nuanced evaluation of microplastic contamination levels and associated ecological risks than single-index methods.

Multi-scale insights into the mechanisms by which nanoplastics amplify cadmium genotoxicity: Stress response, molecular regulatory pathways and molecular docking

Heightened threat of aged microplastics in constructed wetlands: impacts on nitrogen cycles and greenhouse gas emissions

Researchers studied the effects of aged fibrous microplastics on nitrogen cycling and greenhouse gas emissions in constructed wetlands and found that high concentrations of aged MPs reduced nitrogen removal efficiency and increased N₂O emissions compared to pristine MPs. The results suggest aging intensifies the environmental disruption caused by microplastics in treatment wetlands.

The critical role of microplastics in the fate and transformation of sulfamethoxazole and antibiotic resistance genes within vertical subsurface-flow constructed wetlands

This study examined how microplastics affect the removal of the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole and the spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in vertical subsurface-flow constructed wetlands. Microplastic presence significantly altered antibiotic removal efficiency and promoted ARG accumulation, highlighting a concern for wetland-based wastewater treatment systems.

The crucial factor for microplastics removal in large-scale subsurface-flow constructed wetlands

This study used field data from large-scale subsurface-flow constructed wetlands combined with machine learning to identify which design and operational parameters most critically determine microplastic removal efficiency. Hydraulic retention time and plant density were the dominant controlling factors, providing evidence-based design guidance for optimizing constructed wetlands for microplastic treatment.

Unique Raoultella species isolated from petroleum contaminated soil degrades polystyrene and polyethylene

Researchers isolated a bacterium called Raoultella sp. DY2415 from oil-contaminated soil and found it could degrade both polyethylene and polystyrene plastics within 60 days, introducing new oxygen-containing groups into the plastic structure. This discovery adds a new microbial candidate to the search for biological solutions to plastic pollution.

Sampling and Sample Preparation Techniques for Micro- and Nanoplastics

Scientists don't have a standard way to find and measure tiny plastic particles (microplastics) in our environment, making it hard to compare research results. This review paper examines different methods researchers use to detect these plastic particles in air, water, soil, food, and living things. Having better, consistent testing methods is important because microplastics are found throughout our environment and food chain, but we can't properly track their health effects without reliable measurement techniques.

Growth of grasses and forbs, nutrient concentration, and microbial activity in soil treated with microbeads

Researchers found that polyethylene and polystyrene microbeads in soil reduced plant biomass, altered microbial enzyme activity, and decreased nitrogen content, suggesting microplastics disrupt soil ecosystem functions across multiple nutrient cycling pathways.

Competitive adsorption of lead and cadmium onto nanoplastics with different charges: Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy study

Researchers investigated how nanoplastics with different surface charges compete to adsorb the heavy metals lead and cadmium, finding that negatively charged nanoplastics bound more of both metals and that lead consistently outcompeted cadmium for binding sites. These results reveal that the surface chemistry of nanoplastics shapes their capacity to carry toxic metals through the environment, with implications for combined heavy-metal and nanoplastic risk in aquatic ecosystems.

Investigating the Potential Effects of Microplastics on the Growth and Functional Traits in Two Aquatic Macrophytes (Myriophyllum spicatum and Phragmites australis) in Mesocosm Experiments

A mesocosm experiment exposing two common aquatic plants (watermilfoil and common reed) to microplastics found no significant effects on their growth, biomass allocation, oxidative stress markers, or photosynthetic performance. This unexpected result suggests these particular macrophytes may be relatively tolerant of microplastic exposure, though the authors caution that effects could manifest differently under combined stressors.