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Papers
66 resultsShowing papers from University of Zurich
ClearThe recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt
Researchers analyzed 1,816 freshwater invertebrate community datasets from 22 European countries spanning 1968 to 2020, finding that biodiversity recovered steadily through the 1990s and 2000s thanks to water quality improvements, but has largely plateaued since the 2010s. Emerging threats including climate warming, emerging pollutants like microplastics, and invasive species are now offsetting earlier conservation gains, signaling that stronger protections are urgently needed.
Immune-mediated disease caused by climate change-associated environmental hazards: mitigation and adaptation
This review examines how climate change-driven events like wildfires, dust storms, and heatwaves increase air pollution and allergen exposure, contributing to rising rates of asthma, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. The paper specifically notes that nanoplastics, alongside other environmental pollutants, can disrupt skin and mucous membrane barriers and alter the microbiome in ways that trigger immune system dysfunction.
Recent advances in the epithelial barrier theory
This review explains the "epithelial barrier theory," which links the rise in allergies, autoimmune diseases, and other chronic conditions to environmental pollutants, including micro- and nanoplastics, that damage the protective lining of our skin, lungs, and gut. These pollutants can break down the tight junctions between cells, trigger inflammation, and allow harmful substances to enter the body, potentially contributing to the increase in chronic diseases seen worldwide.
The mycorrhizal symbiosis: research frontiers in genomics, ecology, and agricultural application
This review covers the latest advances in understanding mycorrhizal fungi, which form partnerships with plant roots to help them absorb nutrients and resist stress. While not directly about microplastics, mycorrhizal networks play a critical role in soil health, and research shows that microplastic contamination in soil can disrupt these beneficial fungal partnerships. Healthy mycorrhizal networks may also help buffer plants against some negative effects of soil pollutants, including microplastics.
Epithelial barrier hypothesis: Effect of the external exposome on the microbiome and epithelial barriers in allergic disease
This review proposes the 'epithelial barrier hypothesis,' which suggests that modern environmental exposures, including microplastics, air pollution, and processed food additives, are damaging the protective barriers of our skin, gut, and airways. When these barriers break down, foreign substances and bacteria can enter the body and trigger allergic and inflammatory diseases, which have been increasing rapidly in recent decades. The research suggests microplastics may be one of many environmental factors driving the rise in conditions like asthma, food allergies, and eczema.
Lifestyle Changes and Industrialization in the Development of Allergic Diseases
This paper describes the "Epithelial Barrier Theory," which proposes that toxic substances in everyday products -- including microplastics, detergents, and air pollution -- damage the protective linings of our skin, lungs, and gut. This damage disrupts the body's microbiome and triggers inflammation that may help explain the global rise in allergies and other immune-related diseases over recent decades.
Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem
This study argues that groundwater should be recognized as a "keystone ecosystem" because of its critical role in sustaining surface environments, biodiversity, and human water supplies. Over half of the world's land surface has significant interaction with groundwater, yet it remains overlooked in conservation planning. Protecting groundwater is essential for planetary health, including safeguarding water sources from emerging contaminants like microplastics.
Soil contamination in nearby natural areas mirrors that in urban greenspaces worldwide
A global study found that soil contamination in natural areas is just as bad as in nearby urban green spaces, with similar levels of heavy metals, pesticides, microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes. Human activity was the main driver of contamination regardless of whether the area was urban or natural. The findings show that microplastic pollution and other contaminants have spread far beyond cities, potentially affecting soil health and the food grown in these areas.
International consensus guidelines for the definition, detection, and interpretation of autophagy-dependent ferroptosis
This scientific review provides guidelines for understanding a specific type of cell death called autophagy-dependent ferroptosis, where cells essentially digest their own protective components and then die from iron-driven damage. While not directly about microplastics, this process is relevant because microplastics and nanoplastics have been shown to trigger oxidative stress and iron-related cell damage in tissues. Understanding these cell death pathways helps researchers assess how plastic particle exposure could harm organs like the liver, brain, and lungs.
Utilizing aquatic environmental DNA to address global biodiversity targets
This review explores how environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis from water samples can help monitor aquatic biodiversity and track ecosystem health. While not directly about microplastics, eDNA technology is increasingly being adapted to study how plastic pollution affects aquatic ecosystems and species diversity. Better biodiversity monitoring tools help scientists understand the broader ecological impacts of microplastic contamination on the water systems that support human food and resources.
Safety assessment of the SGLT2 inhibitors empagliflozin, dapagliflozin and canagliflozin during pregnancy: An ex vivo human placenta perfusion and in vitro study
Researchers tested three common diabetes drugs (SGLT2 inhibitors) using human placenta tissue and found that all three cross the placental barrier and reach the developing fetus, while also reducing production of the hormone leptin in the placenta. These findings raise safety concerns about using these medications to treat gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
Epithelial barrier theory in the context of nutrition and environmental exposure in athletes
This review explains how environmental pollutants including microplastics, cleaning product chemicals, and air pollution can damage the protective barriers lining the skin, lungs, and gut, leading to inflammation and disruption of the body's natural microbiome. Athletes face heightened risk because intense exercise increases breathing rate, processed food intake, and exposure to synthetic equipment and clothing. The findings suggest that microplastics are one of several modern pollutants that may be weakening the body's first line of defense against disease.
Environmental factors in epithelial barrier dysfunction
This review examines how environmental factors from the modern industrialized world -- including air pollution, detergents, nanoparticles, and microplastics -- damage the protective lining of the skin, gut, and airways. Researchers describe how these exposures degrade the proteins that hold barrier cells together, increasing permeability and triggering immune responses linked to allergies, asthma, and inflammatory conditions. The study presents an "epithelial barrier hypothesis" suggesting that widespread barrier dysfunction from environmental pollutants may be driving the rise of chronic inflammatory diseases.
Epithelial Barrier Theory: The Role of Exposome, Microbiome, and Barrier Function in Allergic Diseases
This review presents the epithelial barrier theory, which proposes that damage to the body's protective barriers is a key driver of allergic diseases. Researchers identified numerous environmental factors including microplastics, nanoparticles, detergents, and processed food additives that can weaken epithelial barriers in the skin, lungs, and gut. The study suggests that the rising prevalence of allergies may be linked to increasing exposure to barrier-disrupting substances in our modern environment.
Searching for new plastic-degrading enzymes from the plastisphere of alpine soils using a metagenomic mining approach
Researchers searched alpine soils in the Swiss Alps at 3,000 meters elevation for bacteria that can break down plastics, finding several promising enzyme candidates through DNA analysis. Five of nine tested proteins showed activity against plastic materials, with one hydrolase enzyme performing particularly well. This research matters because finding natural plastic-degrading enzymes could eventually lead to biological methods for breaking down microplastics in the environment, reducing human exposure.
Intraoral ageing of aligners and attachments: Adverse effects on clinical efficiency and release of biologically-active compounds
This review examines how clear dental aligners and their attachments break down inside the mouth during use, releasing microplastics and chemical compounds from wear and friction. The aging process also reduces the aligners' ability to move teeth as planned. The findings raise questions about the safety of chronic microplastic exposure in the oral cavity from orthodontic appliances.
From properties to toxicity: Comparing microplastics to other airborne microparticles
This study compared airborne microplastics to other well-studied airborne particles like asbestos, silica, soot, and cotton dust to better understand potential health risks from inhaling plastic particles. Researchers examined how properties such as size, shape, surface charge, and durability drive toxicity across these different particle types. The comparison provides a framework for understanding microplastic inhalation risks, which remain poorly studied despite growing evidence of atmospheric plastic pollution.
Microplastics and orthodontic aligners: The concerns arising from the modernization of practice through polymers and plastics
This review highlights that clear plastic orthodontic aligners release microplastics and the chemical BPA (bisphenol A) during normal use in the mouth. The released particles can be swallowed and potentially affect the gut, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, and brain. The authors urge the orthodontic field to prioritize patient safety and develop materials that minimize microplastic release from dental devices.
Review: interactions between microplastics and the gastrointestinal microbiome
This review summarizes existing research on how microplastics interact with the gut microbiome in humans, mice, chickens, and aquatic animals. Evidence suggests that gut bacteria can break microplastics into smaller pieces, which may make them more likely to cross the intestinal wall and enter the body. The disruption of the gut microbiome by microplastics is particularly concerning because balanced gut bacteria are essential for immune function, digestion, and overall health.
Epithelial barrier dysfunction, type 2 immune response, and the development of chronic inflammatory diseases
This review explains how everyday substances including microplastics, air pollutants, food additives, and household chemicals damage the protective lining of our body's surfaces (epithelial barriers). Even trace amounts of these substances can cause the barriers to become leaky, allowing bacteria and allergens to trigger chronic inflammation. The research suggests that microplastic exposure, alongside other modern pollutants, may be contributing to the rise in chronic inflammatory diseases over the past several decades.
Epithelial barrier dysfunction and associated diseases in companion animals: Differences and similarities between humans and animals and research needs
This review examines how environmental pollutants including microplastics, household chemicals, and air pollution are damaging the protective lining (epithelial barriers) of both humans and their pets. The "epithelial barrier theory" suggests that this damage contributes to the rise in allergies, autoimmune conditions, and other inflammatory diseases seen in recent decades. Since pets share our living environments and face similar exposures, studying their health effects can help us better understand the risks these pollutants pose to human health.
Characterization and regulation of microplastic pollution for protecting planetary and human health
This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic pollution, covering sources, environmental distribution, detection methods, health effects, and regulatory efforts. Researchers found that microplastics are now present in virtually every environment on Earth, from deep oceans to remote mountain regions, and can carry harmful chemicals and pathogens. The study calls for coordinated global action to reduce plastic production, improve waste management, and establish health-based exposure limits.
A Survey on Environmental Protective and Risk Factors and Awareness Related to Epithelial Barrier Integrity, Microbiome and Allergic Diseases
This study developed new questionnaires to assess environmental exposures — including microplastics, air pollutants, and detergents — that damage epithelial barriers and contribute to allergic diseases. The epithelial barrier theory links these exposures to microbial dysbiosis and the sharp rise in allergic, autoimmune, and neuropsychiatric conditions since the 1960s.
Therapeutic apheresis: A promising method to remove microplastics?
Researchers propose that therapeutic apheresis, an established medical technique that filters blood outside the body, could potentially be used to remove microplastics and nanoplastics from human blood. This is the first study to provide evidence that this existing technology may work for this purpose. The finding is significant because it points to a possible practical approach for reducing microplastic levels in people who have been exposed to these widespread contaminants.