Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Understanding the Risks of Diffusion of Cyanobacteria Toxins in Rivers, Lakes, and Potable Water

This review covers the health risks of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) toxins found in rivers, lakes, and drinking water, which can damage the liver and nervous system in humans. While not directly about microplastics, the research is relevant because microplastics in water can interact with cyanobacteria and their toxins, potentially serving as carriers that concentrate these harmful substances. The paper discusses various water treatment methods for removing cyanotoxins, many of which are also applicable to microplastic removal.

2023 Toxins 43 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Ecological risk analysis and prediction of microplastics' effects on Microcystis aeruginosa in freshwater system: a meta-analysis approach

This meta-analysis found that micro- and nanoplastics can both inhibit and stimulate the growth of Microcystis aeruginosa — a harmful algal bloom cyanobacterium — depending on particle size and degradability. Smaller, degradable plastics tend to promote algal growth, suggesting microplastic pollution could worsen toxic algal blooms in freshwater systems used for drinking water.

2026 Environmental Pollution
Article Tier 2

Nanomaterials for microplastic remediation from aquatic environment: Why nano matters?

This review examines how nanomaterials such as photocatalysts, adsorbents, and membrane filters can be used to remove microplastics from aquatic environments, highlighting why nanoscale properties offer advantages over conventional remediation approaches.

2022 Chemosphere 113 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of Hydrogen Peroxide on Cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa in the Presence of Nanoplastics

Researchers found that nanoplastic contamination altered the effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide as a control measure for cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms, with the combined stressor effects depending on temperature and light conditions in a high-throughput multistressor experiment.

2021 ACS ES&T Water 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecotoxicity of micro- and nanoplastics on aquatic algae: Facts, challenges, and future opportunities

This review provides a comprehensive assessment of how micro- and nanoplastics harm aquatic algae, which form the base of ocean and freshwater food chains. The toxic effects include reduced growth, oxidative stress, and disrupted photosynthesis, with nanoplastics generally causing more damage than larger particles. Since algae support the entire aquatic food web, their decline from plastic pollution could reduce the quality and safety of fish and shellfish consumed by people.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Nitrogen Forms Regulate the Response of Microcystis aeruginosa to Nanoplastics at Environmentally Relevant Nitrogen Concentrations

Researchers found that nanoplastics significantly inhibited the growth of a common blue-green algae species and increased its production of microcystin, a toxin harmful to humans. The type of nitrogen available in the water changed how severely the nanoplastics affected the algae, with nitrate conditions causing the worst growth inhibition. This matters because nanoplastic pollution could increase toxic algal blooms in lakes and reservoirs used for drinking water.

2024 ACS Nano 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Nano-based remediation strategies for micro and nanoplastic pollution

This review covers how nanomaterial-based technologies can be used to remove microplastics from the environment, including methods using magnetic nanoparticles, photocatalysts, and membrane filters. While current physical, chemical, and biological removal methods each have limitations, nanomaterials can enhance their effectiveness by targeting smaller plastic particles that traditional methods miss. Better removal technologies could ultimately reduce human exposure to microplastics in drinking water and food.

2024 Journal of Contaminant Hydrology 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics Promote Microcystin Synthesis and Release from Cyanobacterial Microcystis aeruginosa

Researchers discovered that amino-modified polystyrene nanoplastics promote both the production and release of microcystin, a harmful toxin, from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. The nanoplastics inhibited photosynthesis, induced oxidative stress, and damaged cell membranes, which enhanced toxin synthesis and extracellular release. The findings suggest that nanoplastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems could worsen the threat of harmful algal blooms to aquatic ecology and human health.

2020 Environmental Science & Technology 232 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastic stress intensifies Microcystis aeruginosa physiology and toxin risks under environmentally relevant water chemistry conditions

Researchers exposed the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa to environmentally relevant concentrations of micro- and nanoplastics, finding both significantly enhanced algal biomass and microcystin toxin production, with nanoplastics additionally promoting extracellular toxin release.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics promote microcystin synthesis and release from cyanobacterial Microcystis aeruginosa.

Researchers showed that amino-modified polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NH2) stimulate microcystin synthesis and release in the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa by inhibiting photosystem II and increasing membrane permeability. This is the first direct evidence linking nanoplastics to enhanced cyanotoxin production in freshwater blooms.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Exploring Sustainable Agriculture with Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacteria and Nanotechnology

This review explores how nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria combined with nanotechnology could improve sustainable farming by enhancing nutrient delivery and crop disease resistance. While not directly about microplastics, the research is relevant because developing sustainable agricultural alternatives could reduce reliance on plastic mulch films, a major source of microplastic contamination in farmland.

2024 Molecules 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/nano-plastics and microalgae in aquatic environment: Influence factor, interaction, and molecular mechanisms.

This review examined the interactions between micro/nanoplastics and microalgae in aquatic environments, summarizing how plastic particle size, surface chemistry, and co-pollutants influence algal toxicity through oxidative stress, photosynthesis inhibition, and gene expression changes.

2024 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Microplastic characteristics differentially influence cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom microbial community membership, growth, and toxin production

Researchers investigated how different types of microplastics influence the growth and toxin production of harmful algal blooms in freshwater. They found that certain microplastic characteristics, such as shape and polymer type, significantly affected which microbial species thrived and how much toxin was produced. The study suggests that microplastic pollution may play an underappreciated role in worsening harmful algal blooms in lakes and reservoirs.

2025 Sustainable Microbiology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Current methods to monitor microalgae-nanoparticle interaction and associated effects

Researchers reviewed over sixty studies on how nanoparticles — including metals, silica, and plastics — affect aquatic microalgae, finding that shading, ion release, oxidative stress, and adsorption are the primary impact pathways, though no consensus has emerged on which particle properties (size, chemistry, concentration) most determine toxicity.

2019 Aquatic Toxicology 60 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on the role of nanotechnological interventions in sequestration, mitigation and value-added product conversion of micro-/nanoplastics

This review examines how nanotechnology-based approaches can be used to capture, break down, or convert microplastics and nanoplastics into useful products. The buildup of these tiny plastic particles in water environments has become a global health and environmental concern. The review highlights promising technologies that could help clean up microplastic pollution and reduce human exposure.

2024 Environmental Science Nano 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanotechnology in Wastewater Management: A New Paradigm Towards Wastewater Treatment

This review examines how nanotechnology-based methods like nano-filtration, photocatalysis, and nano-adsorbents can improve wastewater treatment. These approaches offer advantages over traditional methods, including better removal of tiny pollutants like microplastics that conventional filters miss. Improving wastewater treatment is important because treatment plants are a major pathway through which microplastics reach drinking water sources.

2021 Molecules 382 citations
Article Tier 2

Microcystis aeruginosa copes with toxic effects of micro/nano-plastics with varying particle sizes through different self-regulatory mechanisms

Researchers exposed the freshwater cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa to polystyrene particles of three different sizes ranging from nanoscale to microscale. All particle sizes harmed the algae, but they triggered different cellular defense mechanisms depending on their size, with nanoparticles causing the most severe damage. The findings reveal that particle size is a key factor in determining how microplastics affect aquatic microorganisms.

2025 Aquatic Toxicology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Extracellular polymers substances towards the toxicity effect of Microcystis flos-aquae under subjected to nanoplastic stress

Researchers studied how nanoplastics affect a common freshwater algae and found that the algae produce protective substances in response, but the plastic particles still significantly inhibited growth and disrupted photosynthesis. This matters because harmful algal blooms and water quality are affected by nanoplastic pollution, with downstream consequences for drinking water safety and aquatic food sources.

2025 Environmental Pollution 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Role of Nanotechnology in Plastic and Microplastic Management

This review examines how nanotechnology can enhance plastic and microplastic degradation, describing how nanomaterials can modify microbial metabolic pathways to improve biodegradation rates and how photocatalytic approaches can break down plastics into low-molecular-weight intermediates suitable for use as chemical feedstocks.

2025
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Meta-analysis for systematic review of global micro/nano-plastics contamination versus various freshwater microalgae: Toxicological effect patterns, taxon-specific response, and potential eco-risks

A meta-analysis of 1,071 observations found that nanoplastics cause more severe cell membrane damage than microplastics, while microplastics more strongly inhibit photosynthesis in freshwater microalgae. Among polymer types, polyamide caused the highest growth inhibition, polystyrene induced the most toxin release, and diatoms were the most sensitive algal group while cyanobacteria showed exceptional resilience.

2024 Water Research 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanomaterials for Microplastic Removal from Wastewater: Current State of the Art Nanomaterials and Future Prospects

This review surveys recent advances in using nanomaterials to remove microplastics and nanoplastics from wastewater, since conventional treatment plants struggle to capture these tiny particles. Researchers evaluate different nanomaterial approaches including magnetic nanoparticles, photocatalysts, and membrane technologies. The study identifies promising strategies but notes that challenges around scalability, cost, and potential environmental risks of the nanomaterials themselves still need to be addressed.

2023 ACS ES&T Water 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Research advances on impacts micro/nanoplastics and their carried pollutants on algae in aquatic ecosystems: A review

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics harm algae, which are the foundation of aquatic food chains, by slowing growth, reducing photosynthesis, and damaging cells. The effects are worse when microplastics carry other pollutants on their surfaces, creating a combined toxic effect. Since algae support the entire aquatic food web, damage to these organisms can ripple upward through fish and shellfish to affect the safety of seafood consumed by humans.

2023 Aquatic Toxicology 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Review on impacts of micro- and nano-plastic on aquatic ecosystems and mitigation strategies

This review examines the environmental fate, ecological impacts, and remediation strategies for microplastics and nanoplastics in aquatic ecosystems. Researchers highlight that microbial remediation shows particular promise for breaking down these pollutants, while many nations are adopting regulations to limit plastic contamination of waterways. The study suggests that integrating approaches from nanoscience, microbial ecology, and remediation technologies is needed to address this growing environmental challenge.

2023 Aquatic Toxicology 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Photodegradation of Microplastics through Nanomaterials: Insights into Photocatalysts Modification and Detailed Mechanisms

This review examines how specially designed nanomaterials can break down microplastics in water using light-driven chemical reactions. While not directly about human health, improving microplastic removal from water sources could reduce the amount of tiny plastic particles that ultimately end up in drinking water and the food chain.

2024 Materials 28 citations