Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic-InducedDisruption of DPPC and PalmiticAcid Films: Implications for Membrane Integrity

Researchers investigated how polystyrene nanoplastics disrupt model lung surfactant films composed of DPPC and palmitic acid, finding that nanoplastics intercalate into and destabilize these lipid membranes in ways that could impair respiratory function in people who inhale plastic particles.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic-induced Disruption of DPPC and Palmitic Acid Monolayers: Implications for Membrane Integrity

Researchers used molecular dynamics simulations and spectroscopic techniques to study how nanoplastics interact with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and palmitic acid monolayers -- models of lung surfactant and cell membrane lipids. Nanoplastics disrupted both monolayer systems, altering membrane mechanical properties in ways that suggest inhalation of nanoplastics could compromise pulmonary surfactant function and cellular membrane integrity.

2024
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic-induced Disruption of DPPC and Palmitic Acid Monolayers: Implications for Membrane Integrity

Polystyrene nanoplastics were found to disrupt DPPC and palmitic acid lipid monolayers—models of lung alveolar and cell membranes—suggesting that inhaled or ingested nanoplastics could compromise lung alveolar stability, cell signaling, nutrient delivery, and potentially cause neurotoxicity through membrane disruption.

2025
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic-Induced Disruption of DPPC and Palmitic Acid Films: Implications for Membrane Integrity

Researchers studied how nanoplastics interact with lung and cell membrane lipids at the molecular level. They found that polystyrene nanoplastics can physically insert themselves into lipid films that mimic cell membranes, with greater disruption at higher concentrations. These findings help explain how nanoplastics may penetrate cellular barriers, potentially affecting lung function and allowing the particles to accumulate in biological tissues.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Molecular modeling of nanoplastic transformations in alveolar fluid and impacts on the lung surfactant film

Researchers used molecular dynamics simulations to model how inhaled nanoplastics interact with lung surfactant fluid at the air-water interface in the lungs. They found that lung surfactant molecules spontaneously coat nanoplastics to form coronas, and that some plastic types can be dissolved by lung surfactant, potentially increasing the bioavailability of toxic additives. The study suggests that nanoplastics could disrupt normal lung surfactant function, raising concerns about respiratory health effects.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 70 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding interactions between oligomeric plastic and lung-sufactants underpinning inhalation risks of airborne plastics

Researchers investigated how oligomeric plastic particles interact with lung surfactant bilayers to understand inhalation risks, proposing that as plastics break down to oligomeric sizes through environmental degradation they may penetrate and disrupt the protective surfactant layer lining the lungs.

2025 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Nanoplastics Impair the Biophysical Function of Pulmonary Surfactant by Forming Heteroaggregates at the Alveolar–Capillary Interface

Scientists found that micro and nanoplastics from common products like foam packaging, lunch boxes, and water bottles can impair the function of pulmonary surfactant, the crucial substance that keeps our lungs from collapsing. Polystyrene foam particles caused the most damage, both in lab tests and in mice, where they triggered lung inflammation. The nanoplastic fraction, though a small part of the total mass, appeared to drive most of the harm by forming clumps with the surfactant at the air-liquid surface in the lungs.

2023 Environmental Science & Technology 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding the transformations of nanoplastic onto phospholipid bilayers: Mechanism, microscopic interaction and cytotoxicity assessment

Researchers used molecular dynamics simulations to model how five types of nanoplastics (PVC, PS, PLA, PP, PET) interact with cell membrane lipid bilayers, finding that van der Waals forces dominate uptake and that nanoplastic accumulation reduces membrane thickness in a way that correlates with cytotoxicity.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential health risks of the interaction of microplastics and lung surfactant

Researchers investigated how polystyrene microplastics interact with lung surfactant extracted from porcine lungs. The study found that microplastics altered the surface tension and membrane structure of lung surfactant, preferentially adsorbed phospholipid components, and accelerated the production of reactive oxygen species, suggesting potential risks to respiratory health from inhaled microplastics.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 75 citations
Article Tier 2

Polyvinyl Chloride Nanoparticles Affect Cell Membrane Integrity by Disturbing the Properties of the Multicomponent Lipid Bilayer in Arabidopsis thaliana

Researchers found that polyvinyl chloride nanoparticles disrupt the properties of the multicomponent lipid bilayer in Arabidopsis thaliana cell membranes, compromising membrane integrity and providing molecular-level evidence for how nanoplastics can impair plant cell function.

2022 Molecules 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Lipid Corona Formation on Micro- and Nanoplastic Particles Modulates Uptake and Toxicity in A549 Cells

Researchers found that lipid corona formation on micro- and nanoplastic particles significantly modulates their cellular uptake and toxicity in human lung cells, suggesting that biological coatings alter how plastic particles interact with human tissues.

2023 Materials 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Molecular interactions and dynamics of microplastics in indoor dust with lung-inflammatory receptors: A study in academic settings

Researchers used molecular simulation to study how microplastics in indoor dust interact with lung-lining lipid molecules, finding that MP surfaces adsorb lung surfactant components in ways that could impair pulmonary surfactant function and increase inflammatory signaling after inhalation.

2025 Journal of Environmental Sciences
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic ShapeEffects on Lipid Bilayer Permeabilization

Researchers examined how nanoplastic particle shape and lipid composition together determine the degree of membrane disruption, finding that irregular environmentally weathered nanoplastic shapes — unlike pristine spherical nanoparticles — produce distinct permeabilisation effects on lipid bilayers.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Can Nanoplastics Alter Cell Membranes?

Researchers used molecular dynamics simulations to show that polyethylene nanoplastics dissolve into the hydrophobic core of lipid bilayers as disentangled polymer chains, inducing structural and dynamic changes that alter vital cell membrane functions and may result in cell death.

2019 ChemPhysChem 137 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic ShapeEffects on Lipid Bilayer Permeabilization

Researchers investigated how nanoplastic shape affects lipid bilayer permeabilisation, demonstrating that morphologically diverse environmental nanoplastics interact with cell membranes in ways that differ substantially from the uniform polystyrene nanospheres typically used in laboratory studies.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic Shape Effects on Lipid Bilayer Permeabilization

Researchers investigated how nanoplastic shape and lipid bilayer composition jointly influence particle-membrane interactions, finding that environmentally realistic irregular nanoplastic morphologies disrupt lipid membranes differently than the pristine polystyrene nanospheres used in most prior studies.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology
Article Tier 2

Insights into short chain polyethylene penetration of phospholipid bilayers via atomistic molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that short-chain polyethylene fragments can penetrate phospholipid bilayer membranes, providing atomic-level insight into how nanoscale plastic particles may disrupt cell membrane integrity.

2024 Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics Alter Lateral and Transverse Distributions of Cholesterol in Model Cell Membranes

Researchers used atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations to model how nanoplastics alter the lateral and transverse distribution of cholesterol in model cell membranes. Nanoplastic insertion disrupted lipid bilayer organisation, raising concerns that membrane cholesterol redistribution could impair normal cell signalling and membrane function.

2025 Langmuir 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene-Induced Dehydration of Lipid Membranes: Insights from Atomistic Simulations

Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations revealed that polystyrene nanoplastics cause dehydration of lipid membranes upon contact, extracting water molecules from the bilayer interface in ways that could alter membrane structure and function relevant to cellular uptake of nanoplastic particles.

2025 The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Perturbation of Nanoplastics on Biomembranes: Molecular Insights from Neutron Scattering

Researchers used neutron scattering to study how polystyrene nanoplastics with and without surface modifications interact with model lipid bilayers. They found that nanoplastics disrupt membrane structure through physical insertion and bilayer thinning, with surface modifications significantly altering the degree of membrane perturbation.

2025
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoparticles affect ultrastructure and surfactant proteins production in A549 cells grown under air-liquid interface conditions.

This study examined how polystyrene nanoparticles affect the ultrastructure and surfactant protein production of lung cells, addressing occupational and environmental inhalation exposure risks. Nanoparticles disrupted cellular architecture and altered production of pulmonary surfactants critical for lung function, indicating potential respiratory harm from inhaled nanoplastics.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene-InducedDehydration of Lipid Membranes:Insights from Atomistic Simulations

Researchers conducted atomistic simulations to examine how polystyrene nanoplastics induce dehydration in lipid bilayer membranes after penetrating the membrane interior. The simulation results provided molecular-level evidence that nanoplastic-membrane interactions cause lipid dehydration, offering mechanistic insight into how nanoplastics may disrupt cellular membrane function.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

In-house Fabrication of Nanoplastics of Tunable Composition and Application: Assessment of Bioelectric Changes in Primary Rat Lung Alveolar Epithelial Cell Monolayers Exposed to Nanoplastics

Researchers developed standardized methods for fabricating nanoplastics of tunable composition in the lab, then used these particles to assess bioelectric changes in primary rat lung alveolar epithelial cell monolayers. The study found that nanoplastic exposure altered the electrical properties of lung cells, suggesting that inhaled nanoplastics may disrupt the lung epithelial barrier function.

2025 BIO-PROTOCOL 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Distinguishing the nanoplastic–cell membrane interface by polymer type and aging properties: translocation, transformation and perturbation

Molecular simulations revealed that nanoplastic behavior at cell membranes differs significantly by polymer type and aging state, with distinct patterns of membrane translocation, transformation, and disruption. Aged nanoplastics showed altered interaction dynamics compared to pristine particles, suggesting weathering changes ecotoxicological risk.

2022 Environmental Science Nano 45 citations