Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Mixed Contaminants: Occurrence, Interactions, Toxicity, Detection, and Remediation

This review examines how mixed environmental contaminants, including microplastics, heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals, interact when present together in the environment. The study highlights that pollutant mixtures can produce synergistic toxic effects that are greater than the sum of individual pollutants, making combined contamination a more complex risk than single-pollutant assessments suggest.

2022 Molecules 67 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and PFAS as ubiquitous pollutants affect potencies of highly toxic chemicals in mixtures

Researchers investigated how ubiquitous pollutants like PFAS and microplastics affect the toxicity of other highly toxic chemicals when present together in mixtures. They found that even at non-toxic concentrations, PFAS and microplastics could alter the potency of co-occurring toxic compounds. The study highlights the importance of considering pollutant interactions in complex environmental mixtures rather than assessing chemicals in isolation.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Combined toxicity of organophosphate flame retardants and polyethylene microplastics on Eisenia fetida: Biochemical and molecular insights

Researchers exposed earthworms to polyethylene microplastics, chlorinated flame retardants, and their combinations to assess combined toxicity effects. They found that the most toxic flame retardant (TDCPP) had its effects reduced when combined with microplastics, likely because the plastics absorbed the chemical and lowered its bioavailability. In contrast, microplastics enhanced the toxicity of another flame retardant (TCPP), demonstrating that microplastics can act as both carriers and modulators of co-contaminant toxicity in soil ecosystems.

2025 Environmental Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicological interactions of microplastics/nanoplastics and environmental contaminants: Current knowledge and future perspectives

This review examines how the combined presence of micro- and nanoplastics with other environmental contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals affects toxicity. Researchers found that plastic particles can alter the bioavailability and toxic effects of co-occurring pollutants, sometimes increasing harm to organisms, which complicates environmental risk assessment.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 501 citations
Article Tier 2

Mixtures of Micro and Nanoplastics and Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Environment: What We Know about Their Toxicological Effects

This review examines what is known about the toxicological effects of micro- and nanoplastic mixtures combined with other emerging contaminants in the environment. Researchers found that most studies fail to calculate proper interaction parameters, making it difficult to determine whether combined exposures produce additive, synergistic, or antagonistic effects on organisms.

2024 Toxics 14 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on the combined toxicological effects of microplastics and their attached pollutants

Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as carriers for other environmental pollutants — including heavy metals and persistent organic chemicals — and how these combinations produce toxic effects in organisms that are more severe than either contaminant alone. The findings highlight a complex, layered toxicity problem that affects microbes, invertebrates, and vertebrates across marine and terrestrial environments.

2025 Emerging contaminants 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Complex Mixtures and Multiple Stressors: Evaluating Combined Chemical Exposures and Cumulative Toxicity

This review examined how complex chemical mixtures and multiple stressors interact to produce cumulative toxicity, highlighting that traditional single-chemical risk assessments underestimate real-world exposure risks where organisms face simultaneous pollutant combinations.

2023 Toxics 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and plastic additives as contaminants of emerging concern: A multi-biomarker approach using Rhinella arenarum tadpoles

Researchers exposed toad tadpoles to polyethylene microplastics and the flame retardant TBBPA, both alone and in combination, for 30 days. They found that the mixture produced different toxic effects than either substance alone, affecting growth, enzyme activity, and cellular stress markers. The study highlights the importance of studying microplastics alongside common plastic additives, since their combined effects may differ from individual exposures.

2023 Environmental Advances 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions of microplastics with organic, inorganic and bio-pollutants and the ecotoxicological effects on terrestrial and aquatic organisms

This review systematically examines how microplastics interact with organic pollutants, heavy metals, and biological contaminants in the environment. Researchers found that microplastics can adsorb and transport these pollutants, creating complex combinations that may be more toxic to organisms than either pollutant alone. The study highlights the risks these interactions pose to both ecosystem health and human well-being.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 126 citations
Article Tier 2

Study of the toxicological effects of emerging contaminants on Daphnia similis associating polyethylene microplastics with the agrochemical imidacloprid.

Brazilian researchers tested the ecotoxicological effects of combining polyethylene microplastics with the insecticide imidacloprid on the freshwater crustacean Daphnia, finding combined exposures were more toxic than either pollutant alone. These results suggest that microplastics and pesticides together pose greater risks to aquatic organisms than studies of single pollutants indicate.

2023 Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo)
Article Tier 2

Interactions between microplastics and organic pollutants: Effects on toxicity, bioaccumulation, degradation, and transport

This review examines how microplastics interact with organic pollutants like pesticides and industrial chemicals in the environment. Researchers found that microplastics can absorb these pollutants and alter their toxicity, bioaccumulation, and transport, making the combined effects of microplastics and chemical contaminants potentially more harmful than either would be alone.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 399 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioassays to assess the ecotoxicological impact of polyethylene microplastics and two organic pollutants, simazine and ibuprofen

Researchers assessed the ecotoxicological impact of polyethylene microplastics combined with the organic pollutants simazine and ibuprofen using bioassays in terrestrial ecosystems, finding measurable toxic effects on soil organisms from both the microplastics and co-contaminants.

2021 Chemosphere 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate of microplastics and emerging contaminants: Mechanisms of interactions, bioaccumulation and combined toxicity to aquatic organisms

This review summarizes how microplastics interact with other emerging contaminants in water, finding that microplastics can absorb pollutants at concentrations up to a million times higher than surrounding water and carry them into living organisms. The combined toxicity of microplastics plus these hitchhiking chemicals is often greater than either alone, and these pollutants can reach humans through the food chain.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin 11 citations
Article Tier 2

A brief review on the assessment of potential joint effects of complex mixtures of contaminants in the environment

This review presents new methods for assessing the potential combined effects of complex mixtures of environmental contaminants on organisms. Researchers highlight that many pollutants can cause long-term harm at low concentrations during extended exposure periods. The study emphasizes the need for improved approaches to evaluate how multiple chemicals interact, rather than studying each contaminant in isolation.

2024 Environmental Science Advances 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Unraveling the complexities of microplastics and PFAS synergy to foster sustainable environmental remediation and ecosystem protection: A critical review with novel insights

This review examines how microplastics and PFAS (sometimes called 'forever chemicals') interact in the environment, since both often come from the same everyday products. The authors found that microplastics can carry PFAS on their surface, and when organisms are exposed to both together, the combined toxic effects including oxidative stress and reproductive harm can be worse than either pollutant alone.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 13 citations
Article Tier 2

The single and combined effects of mercury and polystyrene plastic beads on antioxidant-related systems in the brackish water flea: toxicological interaction depending on mercury species and plastic bead size.

Exposure of small crustaceans to mixtures of mercury and polystyrene plastic beads showed complex toxicological interactions — the effects depended on both the size of the plastic beads and the chemical form of mercury. The findings highlight that the real-world health risks of plastic pollution cannot be understood in isolation from the other chemicals that co-occur with plastics in aquatic environments.

2022 Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Article Tier 2

Interaction of Environmental Pollutants with Microplastics: A Critical Review of Sorption Factors, Bioaccumulation and Ecotoxicological Effects

This critical review examines how microplastics interact with and enhance the toxicity of co-occurring environmental pollutants including heavy metals, persistent organic compounds, and pharmaceuticals, synthesizing evidence on sorption mechanisms and combined ecotoxicological effects.

2020 Toxics 313 citations
Article Tier 2

Combined pollution of soil by heavy metals, microplastics, and pesticides: Mechanisms and anthropogenic drivers

This study investigated how heavy metals, microplastics, and pesticides interact when they contaminate soil together, finding that their combined effects are complex and often worse than any single pollutant. Microplastics can absorb and concentrate both heavy metals and pesticides, changing how these chemicals move through soil and into plants. The findings highlight how agricultural soils contaminated with multiple pollutants could increase human exposure through crops grown in that soil.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 80 citations
Article Tier 2

Accumulation of microplastics and Tcep pollutants in agricultural soil: Exploring the links between metabolites and gut microbiota in earthworm homeostasis

Researchers investigated the co-occurrence of polyethylene microplastics and the flame retardant TCEP in agricultural soils and their combined effects on earthworm health. The study found that co-exposure disrupted earthworm gut microbiota and metabolic homeostasis, suggesting that the interaction between microplastics and chemical additives in agricultural soil may pose greater ecological risks than either contaminant alone.

2022 Environment International 59 citations
Article Tier 2

Co-Exposure of Nanopolystyrene and Other Environmental Contaminants—Their Toxic Effects on the Survival and Reproduction of Enchytraeus crypticus

This study tested the combined toxicity of nanopolystyrene particles alongside pharmaceuticals, metals, and engineered nanomaterials on the soil worm Enchytraeus crypticus, finding that co-exposure often amplified harm to survival and reproduction beyond that of each pollutant alone. The results highlight that real-world mixtures of plastic and chemical contaminants pose greater ecological risks than single-substance assessments suggest.

2022 Toxics 10 citations