Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Unravelling protein corona formation on pristine and leached microplastics

When microplastics enter biological fluids or protein-rich environments, proteins coat their surface to form a 'protein corona' that changes how the particles behave in living systems. This study explored how the physical and chemical properties of pristine versus weathered microplastics influence corona formation, finding that surface changes caused by environmental aging significantly alter protein binding. Understanding this process matters because the protein coat — not the plastic itself — is often what cells and organisms first encounter.

2023 Research Square (Research Square)
Article Tier 2

Role of the Protein Corona in the Colloidal Behavior of Microplastics

Researchers investigated how protein coronas form on polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics in biological media, finding that proteins act as surfactants that alter the colloidal behavior and stability of microplastics in aquatic environments.

2023 Langmuir 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Coronas of micro/nano plastics: a key determinant in their risk assessments

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics develop surface coatings called coronas when they interact with biological and environmental substances. These corona layers, formed from proteins, organic matter, and other materials, can significantly change how plastic particles behave in the body and environment, affecting their uptake, distribution, and toxicity. The study suggests that understanding these surface coatings is essential for accurately assessing the real-world risks of plastic particle exposure.

2022 Particle and Fibre Toxicology 143 citations
Article Tier 2

The Composition of the Eco-corona Acquired by Micro- and Nanoscale Plastics Impacts on their Ecotoxicity and Interactions with Co-pollutants

This review examines how the 'eco-corona' — a layer of environmental biomolecules adsorbing onto plastic particle surfaces — alters the toxicity, transport, and interaction with co-pollutants of micro- and nanoplastics, emphasizing that this biological coating fundamentally changes how plastics behave in living organisms.

2022 4 citations
Article Tier 2

The interaction of micro/nano plastics and the environment: Effects of ecological corona on the toxicity to aquatic organisms.

This review examines how the ecological corona — the layer of organic matter, proteins, and microbes that form on micro- and nanoplastic surfaces in water — affects their toxicity to aquatic organisms. The ecological corona can either increase or decrease toxicity depending on its composition, making real-world plastic hazard assessment more complex than laboratory tests with clean particles suggest.

2022 Ecotoxicology and environmental safety
Article Tier 2

Protein corona as a mediator in antibiotic adsorption onto microplastics: Mechanisms and implications

Researchers investigated how protein coronas that form on microplastic surfaces mediate the adsorption of antibiotics in environmental settings. The study provides direct evidence that biological molecules on microplastics facilitate chemical interactions with antibiotics, creating complexes that may pose risks to human health through environmental exposure pathways.

2025 International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecotoxicological significance of bio-corona formation on micro/nanoplastics in aquatic organisms

This review examined the ecotoxicological significance of bio-corona formation on micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic organisms, exploring how protein and biomolecule coatings alter the bioavailability, toxicity, and environmental fate of plastic particles.

2023 RSC Advances 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate of polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics in zebrafish liver cells: Influence of protein corona on transport, oxidative stress, and glycolipid metabolism

Scientists studied how proteins in biological fluids coat nanoplastic particles (forming a "protein corona") and how this coating changes the way cells take up and process the plastics. The protein coating actually increased how many nanoplastics entered liver cells and made them harder to clear out, suggesting that once nanoplastics enter the bloodstream, the body's own proteins may make the contamination harder to eliminate.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Protein Microplastic Coronation Complexes Trigger Proteome Changes in Brain-Derived Neuronal and Glial Cells

Researchers used a proteomics approach to study how microplastics interact with brain-derived neuronal and glial cells, finding that the particles adsorb proteins from biological fluids to form a coating called a protein corona. This corona significantly altered protein expression in cells compared to bare microplastic particles, affecting protein synthesis, lipid metabolism, and cellular transport processes. The study suggests that the protein corona on microplastics may play a key role in how these particles affect brain cells.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics and Protein Corona - Investigating the Corona Structure and their Biological Impacts

This PhD thesis investigated how proteins from biological fluids coat the surface of nanoplastics, forming a 'protein corona' that changes how nanoplastics interact with cells and tissues. The protein corona is important because it alters the biological behavior of nanoplastics once they enter the body, potentially affecting how harmful they are.

2021 ResearchSPAce (Bath Spa University)
Article Tier 2

Protein Corona Stability and Removal from PET Microplastics: Analytical and Spectroscopic Evaluation in Simulated Intestinal Conditions

Researchers studied how proteins from intestinal fluids form a coating, called a corona, on PET microplastics and how stable that coating is under different cleaning treatments. They found that the protein corona is highly persistent and resists oxidative and surfactant treatments, with only a combined alkaline-surfactant protocol effectively removing it. The findings are important because protein coatings on microplastics can alter how the particles interact with biological tissues and may affect the accuracy of analytical detection methods.

2025 Preprints.org 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of micro/nanoplastics in the environment: Roles of plastisphere and eco-corona

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics gain biological coatings in the environment: larger microplastics develop a "plastisphere" of microorganisms on their surface, while smaller nanoplastics get wrapped in proteins and organic matter forming an "eco-corona." Both coatings change how toxic the particles are to living organisms and humans. The review highlights that studying plastic particles without these coatings, as most lab experiments do, may underestimate or mischaracterize their real-world health risks.

2023 Soil & Environmental Health 88 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment on interactive prospectives of nanoplastics with plasma proteins and the toxicological impacts of virgin, coronated and environmentally released-nanoplastics

Researchers found that nanoplastics quickly coat themselves in blood proteins, forming a multi-layered "corona" that changes the proteins' shape and makes them biologically harmful; these protein-coated nanoplastics caused more DNA and cell damage in human blood cells than bare nanoplastics. The study highlights the need to regulate nanoplastics in medical products and better understand how they accumulate in the body.

2019 Scientific Reports 289 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental dimensions of the protein corona

Researchers reviewed how nanomaterials entering natural environments acquire an "eco-corona" — a coating of proteins and other biomolecules that alters how organisms recognize and interact with the particles — and called for targeted research into how this coating changes during food chain transfer and affects ecotoxicity.

2021 Nature Nanotechnology 351 citations
Article Tier 2

Strong binding between nanoplastic and bacterial proteins facilitates protein corona formation and reduces nanoplastics toxicity

Researchers demonstrated that bacteria-derived proteins adsorb strongly onto nanoplastic surfaces to form a 'protein corona,' altering nanoplastic morphology and reducing their toxicity to bacterial cells — with the degree of protection varying by surface chemistry, as amino-modified nanoplastics showed the greatest reduction in oxidative damage after corona formation.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Unraveling the interfacial fate of nanoplastics in soil: proteomics and molecular dynamics decipher the protein corona governed by surface functionalization

This study used proteomics and molecular dynamics simulations to examine how soil proteins coat nanoplastics — forming what is called a 'protein corona' — and how that coating changes depending on the nanoplastic's surface chemistry. The protein corona affects how nanoplastics move through soil and interact with living organisms, making this research important for understanding the true environmental fate of nanoplastics once they enter land ecosystems.

2026 Environmental Science Nano
Article Tier 2

A comparative study of microplastics under the influence of soil-typical eco-coronas through laboratory and field incubation experiments

Researchers compared microplastic behavior under laboratory and field incubation conditions when eco-coronas — natural surface coatings of organic matter, proteins, and humic acids — were present on particles, assessing how these coatings modify microplastic hydrophobicity, transport, and toxicity to soil organisms.

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

The Challenges and Opportunities of Protein Coronas for Nanoscale Biomolecular Sensing

Researchers reviewed how protein layers that naturally form around nanoscale objects in biological fluids affect the performance of tiny biosensors. They found that this protein coating can block sensors from detecting target molecules, but new strategies are emerging to work around or even take advantage of this effect. The study is relevant to understanding how nanoplastics behave in the body, since similar protein layers form around plastic nanoparticles and influence their biological interactions.

2025 Small 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Protein Corona Stability and Removal from PET Microplastics: Analytical and Spectroscopic Evaluation in Simulated Intestinal Conditions

Researchers studied how proteins in the gut environment attach to PET microplastics and found that a persistent protein coating, called a corona, forms quickly and resists simple cleaning methods. Only specific combinations of oxidation with alkaline or surfactant treatments could effectively remove the protein layer without damaging the plastic itself. The findings are important because protein coronas change how microplastics interact with biological systems and can interfere with accurately detecting and analyzing these particles.

2025 Foods 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Molecular insights into nanoplastics-peptides binding and their interactions with the lipid membrane

Using computer simulations, researchers studied how nanoplastics interact with small protein fragments and cell membranes at the molecular level. They found that nanoplastics readily bind to proteins, forming a coating called a protein corona, which changes how the plastics behave when they encounter cell membranes. This research helps explain how nanoplastics might enter human cells, since the protein coating could either help or hinder the particles from crossing biological barriers.

2024 Biophysical Chemistry 13 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

Structure of soft and hard protein corona around polystyrene nanoplastics—Particle size and protein types

Researchers characterized the protein corona that forms around polystyrene nanoplastics of different sizes, finding that particle size influences which proteins bind and how tightly, with implications for nanoplastic toxicity and biological uptake.

2020 Biointerphases 62 citations
Article Tier 2

A different protein corona cloaks “true-to-life” nanoplastics with respect to synthetic polystyrene nanobeads

Researchers found that environmentally realistic 'true-to-life' nanoplastics acquire a distinct protein corona compared to synthetic polystyrene nanobeads, suggesting that laboratory studies using standard nanobeads may not accurately reflect how environmental nanoplastics interact with biological systems.

2022 Environmental Science Nano 22 citations
Article Tier 2

ProteinMicroplasticCoronation Complexes TriggerProteome Changes in Brain-Derived Neuronal and Glial Cells

Researchers used mass spectrometry-based proteomics to compare how intact polystyrene microplastics versus protein-coated (coronated) microplastics affect brain-derived neuronal and glial cells. Protein corona formation on microplastics notably altered cellular protein expression compared to uncoated particles, with impacts on DNA repair, oxidative stress response, and membrane trafficking pathways.

2025 Figshare