Papers

61,005 results
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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

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

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

Uptake of extracellular vesicles into immune cells is enhanced by the protein corona

This study found that a protein coating (called a "corona") that forms around nanoparticles in blood actually increases their uptake by human immune cells called monocytes. While this research focused on extracellular vesicles and liposomes rather than plastic particles, the finding is relevant to microplastics research because similar protein coronas form on plastic nanoparticles in the body, potentially influencing how immune cells interact with them.

2023 Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 77 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

Unravelling protein corona formation on pristine and leached microplastics

Researchers found that when microplastics encounter proteins in biological fluids, they get coated in a "protein corona" that depends heavily on the plastic's chemical additives, surface area, and how much it has been weathered in the environment. This coating changes how microplastics behave in the body, meaning toxicity studies need to account for these real-world surface changes.

2024 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Eco-corona formation and associated ecotoxicological impacts of nanoplastics in the environment

This review examines how nanoplastics interact with natural organic matter in the environment to form an 'eco-corona,' a coating of biomolecules on the particle surface that changes their behavior and toxicity. Researchers found that eco-corona formation alters nanoplastic stability, transport, and biological interactions in ways that can either increase or decrease their harmful effects on organisms. The study highlights the importance of considering these surface transformations when assessing the real-world environmental risks of nanoplastic pollution.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 75 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

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

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

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

Predicting bio-corona-induced adsorption and uptake of nanoplastics

A mathematical model predicts that when nanoplastics travel through biological fluids, they acquire a coating of proteins and other biomolecules (a 'bio-corona') that can redistribute as the particle approaches a cell membrane, generating an attractive force that enables the nanoplastic to bind to and potentially enter the cell. This theoretical finding provides a mechanistic explanation for how nanoplastics at environmentally relevant concentrations could penetrate biological barriers and accumulate inside cells — a key step toward understanding human health risks.

2026 Soft Matter
Article Tier 2

Cellular internalization pathways of environmentally exposed microplastic particles: Phagocytosis or Macropinocytosis?

Researchers investigated how eco-corona formation on environmentally exposed microplastic particles affects their cellular internalization pathways, examining whether particles coated with biomolecules from freshwater or saltwater are taken up by cells via phagocytosis or macropinocytosis, with findings showing that protein ligands in the eco-corona influence cell membrane receptor interactions and thus uptake mechanisms.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
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

Molecular modeling of the carbohydrate corona formation on a polyvinyl chloride nanoparticle and its impact on the adhesion to lipid bilayers

Using molecular dynamics simulations, researchers modeled how chitosan — a carbohydrate found in biological environments — coats polyvinyl chloride (PVC) nanoparticles to form an 'eco-corona,' and found this coating changes how the nanoparticles interact with and penetrate cell membranes. Understanding how environmental coatings alter nanoplastic behavior is essential for predicting the true biological toxicity of plastic particles in living organisms.

2024 The Journal of Chemical Physics 2 citations
Article Tier 2

A Comparative Study on the Interaction Between Protein and PET Micro/Nanoplastics: Structural and Surface Characteristics of Particles and Impacts on Lung Carcinoma Cells ( A549 ) and Staphylococcus aureus

Researchers found that when proteins in the body coat tiny PET plastic particles from water bottles, the particles change in size, surface charge, and behavior. These protein-coated nanoplastics were more harmful to human lung cancer cells in lab tests than uncoated ones. The study suggests that once microplastics enter the body, they interact with proteins in ways that could increase their toxic effects on cells.

2024 Environmental Toxicology 12 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

Mechanisms of eco-corona effects on micro(nano)plastics in marine medaka: Insights into translocation, immunity, and energy metabolism

Researchers studied how eco-corona (biomolecule coatings that form on plastics in the ocean) affects the behavior of micro- and nanoplastics in marine medaka fish. They found that eco-corona facilitated the translocation of microplastics from the intestine to the liver and prolonged their retention time in larvae. The study suggests that naturally occurring biomolecules in marine environments can enhance the movement and toxic effects of plastic particles in fish.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Tailor-Made Protein Corona Formation on Polystyrene Microparticles and its Effect on Epithelial Cell Uptake

Researchers investigated how protein corona formation on polystyrene microparticles affects epithelial cell uptake, finding that the initial protein precoating critically influenced final corona composition and particle-cell interactions while leaving cell viability unaffected.

2022 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Protein corona alleviates adverse biological effects of nanoplastics in breast cancer cells

Scientists discovered that when nanoplastics enter human blood, proteins naturally coat their surface forming a "protein corona," and this coating actually reduces some of the harmful effects of the plastics on breast cancer cells. Without the protein coating, nanoplastics stuck to cell membranes and disrupted important signaling pathways, but coated particles were safely captured inside cellular compartments. This finding suggests that the body may have some natural defense against nanoplastics in the bloodstream, though the long-term effects of this process remain unknown.

2024 Nanoscale 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Protein Corona-Directed Cellular Recognition and Uptake of Polyethylene Nanoplastics by Macrophages

Scientists discovered that when polyethylene nanoplastics enter the bloodstream, they quickly become coated with blood proteins, and this protein coating determines how immune cells recognize and respond to them. High-density and low-density polyethylene attracted different protein coatings, leading to different immune responses from macrophages. This research helps explain how nanoplastics interact with the immune system once they enter the human body, which is key to understanding their potential health effects.

2024 Environmental Science & Technology 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction of nanoplastics with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the aquatic environment: A special reference to eco-corona formation and associated impacts

This review examines how nanoplastics in aquatic environments interact with natural biomolecules to form an eco-corona coating that fundamentally changes their behavior and ecological impact. Researchers found that this biological coating alters the surface chemistry, transport, and toxicity of nanoplastic particles in ways that depend on environmental conditions. The study highlights that understanding eco-corona formation is essential for accurately assessing the real-world risks of nanoplastic pollution.

2021 Water Research 204 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics andthe Role of the Corona in the BiologicalResponses of Daphnia magna

Researchers studied how biomolecule coatings from fetal bovine serum, Daphnia secretions, and algae affected nanoplastic toxicity in Daphnia magna, finding that coatings altered the nanoplastic surface and affected internalization and biological responses differently depending on the biomolecule source.

2025 Figshare