Papers

61,005 results
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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

Perturbation of Nanoplastics on Biomembranes: Molecular Insights from Neutron Scattering

Scientists found that tiny plastic particles called nanoplastics can seriously damage cell membranes, which are the protective barriers around our cells. The plastic particles caused membranes to break apart and get thinner, though some natural cell types were more resistant to damage than others. This research helps us understand why the growing amount of plastic pollution in our environment and food could pose health risks to humans.

2026
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene and polyethylene perturb the structure of membrane: An experimental and computational study

Researchers combined cell experiments, molecular dynamics simulations, and toxicogenomic analysis to show that polystyrene and polyethylene nanoplastics — individually and as a mixture — physically penetrate cell membranes and form pores, with the mixture producing stronger disruption than either polymer alone.

2025 Environmental Pollution 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

Polystyrene-InducedDehydration of Lipid Membranes:Insights from Atomistic Simulations

Researchers used atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to investigate how polystyrene nanoplastics interact with lipid bilayer membranes after penetrating them, focusing specifically on whether and how such particles induce membrane dehydration. They found that polystyrene nanoplastics cause significant dehydration of lipid membranes, providing new mechanistic insight into nanoplastic-induced cellular disruption.

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

Interfacial Interactions between Nanoplastics and Biological Systems: toward an Atomic and Molecular Understanding of Plastics-Driven Biological Dyshomeostasis

This study investigated how nanoplastics interact with biological molecules at the atomic level, finding that polystyrene nanoplastics can destroy the structure of proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and damage DNA. The nanoplastics essentially unfolded a milk protein, punched holes in cell membranes, and broke DNA strands. These findings help explain at a fundamental level how nanoplastics found in human blood, milk, and tissues could cause the inflammation and disease seen in other studies.

2024 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene-InducedDehydration of Lipid Membranes:Insights from Atomistic Simulations

Researchers performed atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to characterize how polystyrene nanoplastics interact with and dehydrate lipid bilayer membranes following membrane penetration. The simulations revealed the structural and thermodynamic mechanisms by which nanoplastic particles disrupt membrane hydration, contributing to understanding of nanoplastic toxicity at the cellular level.

2025 Figshare
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

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

Interaction of Polystyrene Nanoplastic with Lipid Membranes

Researchers investigated how polystyrene nanoplastics derived from food packaging interact with lipid membranes, which serve as models for cell membranes. Using microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations, the study found that while water molecules initially act as a barrier to nanoplastic entry, once particles penetrate the membrane's polar region they rapidly move into the bilayer interior, and small-molecule additives like unreacted monomers can be released into the membrane during this process.

2025 The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polyethylene microplastics on cell membranes: A combined study of experiments and molecular dynamics simulations

Researchers combined laboratory experiments with molecular dynamics simulations to study how polyethylene microplastics interact with cell membranes. They found that nanoscale plastic particles can penetrate and disrupt cell membrane structure, causing leakage and potentially leading to cell damage. The study provides a detailed molecular-level understanding of one of the fundamental ways microplastics may harm living cells.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 141 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction of polyethylene nanoplastics with the plasma, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosome and endosome membranes: A molecular dynamics study

Researchers used computer simulations to study how polyethylene nanoplastics interact with five types of cell membranes in the human body, finding that the plastic particles spontaneously insert themselves into the fatty inner layer of membranes and disrupt normal membrane flexibility. These atomic-level findings help explain how nanoplastics may cause cell damage from the inside.

2025 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene-InducedDehydration of Lipid Membranes:Insights from Atomistic Simulations

Researchers used atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the dehydration of lipid membranes caused by polystyrene nanoplastics that have penetrated the bilayer. The findings revealed how nanoplastic particles alter the hydration state of membrane lipids, providing detailed mechanistic understanding of nanoplastic interactions with biological membranes.

2025 Figshare
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

Surface-Functionalized Polystyrene Nanoparticles Alter the Transmembrane Potential via Ion-Selective Pores Maintaining Global Bilayer Integrity

Polystyrene nanoparticles were found to adsorb onto phospholipid bilayer membranes, forming disordered films that create ion-selective pores without disrupting global membrane integrity. These pores altered transmembrane electrical potential, suggesting a molecular mechanism by which nanoplastics could interfere with cellular function.

2022 Langmuir 17 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

Effects of Nanoplastics on Lipid Membranes and Vice Versa: Insights from All-Atom Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Researchers used molecular dynamics simulations to study how polyethylene nanoplastics interact with cell membrane models. They found that the mechanical properties of the lipid membrane, rather than the nanoplastic structure, primarily determine whether particles can penetrate cells. The study suggests that more flexible biological membranes may be more susceptible to nanoplastic penetration, providing insight into how these particles could enter living cells.

2025 The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 9 citations
Article Tier 2

The effects of adsorbed benzo(a)pyrene on dynamic behavior of polystyrene nanoplastics through phospholipid membrane: A molecular simulation study

Researchers used molecular simulations to show that benzo(a)pyrene adsorbed onto polystyrene nanoplastics alters how the particles interact with and penetrate phospholipid membranes, suggesting that pollutant-coated nanoplastics may pose different biological risks than pristine ones.

2023 Colloids and Surfaces B Biointerfaces 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction ofPolystyrene Nanoplastic with LipidMembranes

Researchers investigated how polystyrene nanoplastics derived from disposable food packaging interact with zwitterionic lipid membranes used as protein-free cell membrane models, combining microscopic imaging with unbiased atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. The study aimed to elucidate the molecular-level mechanisms of nanoplastic internalization, which begins with initial membrane interaction steps.

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

Polystyrene and polytetrafluoroethylene nanoplastics affect probiotic bacterial characteristics and penetrate their cellular membrane

This study found that polystyrene and PTFE nanoplastics damage the membranes and viability of probiotic bacteria in ways that differ by particle surface chemistry and bacterial strain. Since gut microbiome stability depends on these beneficial bacteria, this research suggests that nanoplastic ingestion could undermine the health benefits of probiotics and more broadly disrupt the gut microbial community.

2026 Environmental Science Nano
Article Tier 2

Cellular interactions with polystyrene nanoplastics—The role of particle size and protein corona

Researchers investigated how polystyrene nanoplastics interact with mammalian cells, finding that particle size and the protein corona that forms around particles in biological fluids strongly influence cellular uptake and toxicity. Smaller nanoplastics penetrated cell membranes more readily and caused greater disruption, suggesting that the tiniest plastic particles may pose the greatest biological risk.

2021 Biointerphases 61 citations
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