Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Airborne Microplastics: Another Threatening to Our Health

This review examines the emerging evidence on airborne microplastics, covering their sources, how they travel through the atmosphere, and how they enter the human respiratory system through inhalation. Researchers highlight potential health effects including pulmonary inflammation, oxidative stress, and endocrine disruption, with particle size influencing how deeply they penetrate into the lungs. The study calls for standardized measurement protocols and urgent interdisciplinary research to better understand the health risks of breathing in microplastic particles.

2025 Science Insights 1 citations
Article Tier 2

An emerging class of air pollutants: Potential effects of microplastics to respiratory human health?

This review explores the emerging concern that airborne microplastics can be inhaled by humans, potentially causing adverse effects on the respiratory system. Researchers compiled available data on the concentration, size, shape, and chemical composition of microplastic particles found in urban air. The findings suggest that airborne plastic debris represents a largely understudied class of air pollutant with potential implications for human health.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 406 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric Microplastics and Human Health: Sources, Exposure, and Risks

This review systematically summarizes the sources, distribution, and health implications of atmospheric microplastics in both indoor and outdoor air. The study highlights growing evidence that inhaled microplastics can enter the human body and pose potential risks to the respiratory system, while identifying key limitations and uncertainties in current exposure assessment methods.

2026 Applied and Computational Engineering
Article Tier 2

The Current Status of Atmospheric Micro/Nanoplastics Research: Characterization, Analytical Methods, Fate, and Human Health Risk

This review synthesizes current knowledge on atmospheric micro- and nanoplastics, covering their characterization, analytical methods, environmental fate, and human health risks while highlighting the need for standardized sampling protocols to enable cross-study comparisons.

2022 Aerosol and Air Quality Research 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric Microplastics: Perspectives on Origin, Abundances, Ecological and Health Risks

This review summarizes current knowledge about microplastics in the atmosphere, including their sources, how far they travel, and potential health effects from inhalation. Researchers found that airborne microplastics can carry toxic chemicals deep into the respiratory system and may contribute to respiratory problems and other health concerns. The study emphasizes that atmospheric microplastic pollution remains poorly understood due to a lack of standardized measurement methods.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 22 citations
Article Tier 2

The Pollution of Atmospheric Microplastics and Their Potential Risks to Humans

This review summarizes what is known about airborne microplastics—tiny plastic particles floating in the air we breathe—including their sources, distribution, and potential health risks. Fibers are the most common form found in air, and inhalation is an important but underestimated route of human microplastic exposure.

2021 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Analytical methods, source, concentration, and human risks of microplastics: a review

This review provides a comprehensive assessment of atmospheric microplastic pollution, covering analytical detection methods, pollution sources, concentration levels, and potential human health risks from inhalation exposure. Researchers found significant variation in reported atmospheric microplastic levels due to differences in sampling and analysis methods across studies. The study calls for standardized protocols to enable meaningful comparisons and more accurate assessment of the health risks posed by airborne microplastics.

2024 Reviews on Environmental Health 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Status and prospects of atmospheric microplastics: A review of methods, occurrence, composition, source and health risks

This review summarized the sampling methods, occurrence, composition, sources, and health risks of atmospheric microplastics. Researchers found that airborne microplastics are detected both indoors and outdoors, with fibers being the most common shape, and that inhalation represents an important but understudied exposure pathway. The study suggests that atmospheric transport plays a significant role in the global distribution of microplastic pollution.

2022 Environmental Pollution 74 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the Air

This book chapter examines atmospheric microplastic pollution, reviewing the presence of MPs in outdoor and indoor air, the mechanisms by which they become airborne, human inhalation exposure estimates, and evidence for respiratory health effects.

2025
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review of micro- and nano-plastics in the atmosphere: Occurrence, fate, toxicity, and strategies for risk reduction.

This review examines a decade of research on micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) in the atmosphere, covering their occurrence in outdoor and indoor air, toxicological effects on human health, and strategies to reduce exposure risk from inhalation of airborne plastic particles.

2023 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in the atmosphere: a review

This review assessed the current state of knowledge on microplastics in the atmosphere, finding that airborne plastic particles have been detected in both indoor and outdoor environments across multiple regions worldwide. Researchers noted that comparing results across studies is difficult because sampling methods and reporting standards vary widely. The study calls for harmonized measurement approaches so that atmospheric microplastic data can be reliably used for human health risk assessments.

2022 Journal of Environmental Exposure Assessment 87 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric micro (nano) plastics: future growing concerns for human health

This review examines the growing concern about nanoplastics in the atmosphere and their potential effects on human health, an area that has received far less attention than microplastics in water or soil. Researchers found that airborne nanoplastics can penetrate deep into the lungs and potentially enter the bloodstream due to their extremely small size. The study identifies critical knowledge gaps and calls for more research on inhalation exposure pathways and long-term health consequences.

2022 Air Quality Atmosphere & Health 135 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential Effects of Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Microplastics: An Overview of Air Contamination

This review summarizes what is known about airborne microplastics in both general and workplace environments, noting that indoor concentrations often exceed outdoor levels. While the WHO has called for more research on health effects, toxicity studies remain limited and not easily comparable due to a lack of standardized methods -- meaning the full health risks of breathing in microplastics are still unclear.

2024 Toxics 20 citations
Review Tier 2

A Review of the Sampling, Analysis, and Identification Techniques of Microplastics in the Air: Insights into PM2.5 and PM10

This review systematically compared methods for sampling, analyzing, and identifying microplastics in air, with special focus on the PM2.5 and PM10 fine particle fractions that are most relevant to human respiratory health. The paper identifies key gaps and recommends standardized protocols to improve comparability of airborne microplastic research.

2025 Polymers 1 citations
Review Tier 2

A review of atmospheric microplastics pollution: In-depth sighting of sources, analytical methods, physiognomies, transport and risks

This review provides an in-depth analysis of atmospheric microplastic pollution, examining sources, detection methods, physical characteristics, transport mechanisms, and health risks. Researchers found that indoor environments tend to contain higher concentrations of airborne microplastics than outdoor settings, and that current detection methods are limited in their ability to capture the smallest particles. The study emphasizes the need for standardized sampling procedures and more research into the health effects of inhaling microplastic particles.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 118 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecological and human health risks of atmospheric microplastics (MPs): a review

This review examined the ecological and human health risks associated with atmospheric microplastics, which are recognized as ubiquitous and persistent emerging pollutants. The study suggests that airborne microplastics represent a growing environmental concern requiring further investigation.

2022 Environmental Science Atmospheres 57 citations
Article Tier 2

A Review of the Sources, Environmental Behaviours and Human Health of Atmospheric Microplastics

This review examined sources, environmental behaviors, and human health impacts of atmospheric microplastics, distinguishing indoor from outdoor MP exposure and summarizing evidence on how airborne MPs are emitted, transported, transformed, and inhaled.

2023 Johnson Matthey Technology Review 3 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

A review of airborne micro- and nano-plastics: Sampling methods, analytical techniques, and exposure risks.

This review of 140 articles on airborne micro- and nanoplastics found that diverse sampling and analytical methods make cross-study comparisons difficult, limiting exposure risk assessment. The authors recommend standardization of methods and highlight that active samplers and FTIR/Raman spectroscopy are the most commonly used approaches for collecting and identifying atmospheric plastic particles.

2024 Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nano-plastics in the atmosphere: A review of occurrence, properties and human health risks

This review summarizes research on tiny plastic particles floating in the air we breathe, both indoors and outdoors. Studies show that inhaling these airborne microplastics and nanoplastics can trigger immune responses, oxidative stress, and cell death, potentially contributing to cardiovascular disease and reproductive problems, though standardized testing methods are still needed.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 108 citations
Article Tier 2

Atmospheric microplastics: A review on current status and perspectives

This review summarizes current knowledge about microplastics detected in the atmosphere of urban, suburban, and remote areas around the world. Researchers found that airborne microplastic concentrations vary by one to three orders of magnitude across different locations, with fibers and fragments being the most common shapes. The study highlights the need for standardized sampling methods and further research to understand how atmospheric microplastics affect human health.

2020 Earth-Science Reviews 1243 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of the Morphological and Chemical Profile of Different Families of Microplastics in Samples of Breathable Air

Researchers characterized the morphological and chemical profiles of airborne microplastics collected from breathable air samples, finding diverse polymer types and particle shapes and examining how these particles are transported through the atmosphere to the air people breathe.

2023 Molecules 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Airborne microplastics: environmental prevalence, human health risks, and mitigation strategies

This critical review synthesized findings from 156 peer-reviewed papers on airborne microplastics, covering sampling methodologies, environmental prevalence, health hazards, and mitigation strategies. Researchers found that atmospheric microplastic concentrations vary widely across environments and highlighted significant gaps in toxicological research regarding human health effects from inhaled microplastic particles.

2026 Analytical Methods
Article Tier 2

Development of screening criteria for microplastic particles in air and atmospheric deposition: critical review and applicability towards assessing human exposure

Researchers evaluated 27 studies on microplastics in air and found that most scored below 50% on quality criteria — particularly for contamination controls and measuring particles smaller than 10 micrometers — highlighting the need for standardized methods before reliable human inhalation exposure assessments can be made.

2021 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 105 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro-Nano-Plastics in the Atmosphere: Methodology for Sampling

This review focuses on methodologies for sampling micro-nano-plastics (MNPs) from the atmosphere, addressing the absence of a standardized procedure for collection and size fractionation that currently hinders comparison of results across research groups studying atmospheric plastic aerosol.

2023 Preprints.org 3 citations