Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Recent advances in toxicological research of nanoplastics in the environment: A review

Researchers systematically reviewed nanoplastic toxicology, finding that surface charge and particle size are the dominant determinants of harm — positively charged and smaller particles penetrate cell membranes more readily — and that adsorbed contaminants released inside organisms often pose greater toxicological risks than the nanoplastic particles themselves.

2019 Environmental Pollution 652 citations
Article Tier 2

Health impacts of micro- and nanoplastics: key influencing factors, limitations, and future perspectives

This review systematically analyzed how the physicochemical properties of micro- and nanoplastics — including size, shape, surface charge, and polymer type — determine their toxicological impacts across biological systems. The authors argue that property-based frameworks are essential for predicting MNP health risks and designing relevant research.

2025 Archives of Toxicology
Article Tier 2

An updated overview of some factors that influence the biological effects of nanoparticles

This review provides an updated look at how the size, shape, chemical composition, and surface properties of nanoparticles influence their biological effects when they enter the body. Researchers summarize how these physical characteristics determine how nanoparticles interact with proteins, cell receptors, and other biological molecules. The study highlights the importance of understanding these factors for both the safe design of medical nanoparticles and for assessing environmental nanoparticle risks.

2023 Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Insights into the toxicity of biomaterials microparticles with a combination of cellular and oxidative biomarkers

This study assessed the toxicity of biomaterial microparticles including natural and synthetic polymers using cellular viability and oxidative stress biomarkers, finding that particle type, size, and surface chemistry all influenced cytotoxic potential.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Important Factors Affecting Induction of Cell Death, Oxidative Stress and DNA Damage by Nano- and Microplastic Particles In Vitro

This review examines what makes tiny plastic particles more or less toxic to cells, finding that smaller particles, longer exposure times, higher concentrations, and positive electrical charges all increase harm. Importantly, the study shows that nanoplastics can penetrate cells, generate damaging molecules called reactive oxygen species, and cause DNA damage, with normal cells being more vulnerable than cancer cells.

2024 Cells 77 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/nanoplastics and human health: A review of the evidence, consequences, and toxicity assessment

This review summarizes evidence that micro and nanoplastics have been found in multiple human organs and body fluids, where they can alter cell shape, damage mitochondria, reduce cell survival, and cause oxidative stress. The health effects depend heavily on the size, shape, and chemical makeup of the particles, with smaller nanoplastics generally posing the greatest risk because they penetrate deeper into tissues. The review provides a framework for assessing how dangerous different types of plastic particles are to human health.

2025 Food and Chemical Toxicology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicological considerations of nano-sized plastics

This review examined the toxicological considerations specific to nanoplastics, focusing on how particle deposition in different biological compartments, physical properties (size, shape, surface chemistry), and chemical additives interact to determine biological effects. The authors argue that understanding nanoplastic toxicology requires shifting focus from exposure characterization to mechanistic biological relevance at the tissue and organ level.

2019 AIMS environmental science 132 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioengineered Nanoparticle and Environmental Particulate Matter Toxicity: Mechanisms, Regulations and Applications

This review covers the toxicological mechanisms of engineered nanoparticles and environmental particulate matter, including plastic microparticulates, discussing how particle size, surface chemistry, and composition drive inflammatory and oxidative injury. Understanding these shared mechanisms is relevant to assessing the health risks of the diverse mix of micro- and nanoplastic particles humans inhale and ingest daily.

2023 IntechOpen eBooks
Article Tier 2

Potential Toxicity of Nanoparticles for the Oral Delivery of Therapeutics

This chapter reviews the potential toxic effects of nanoparticles used for oral drug delivery, examining how properties like size, surface area, surface charge, and chemistry influence biological interactions. While nanoparticles offer advantages for drug bioavailability, their unexpected interactions with biological systems raise significant safety concerns.

2024 IntechOpen eBooks 1 citations
Article Tier 2

The Immunotoxic Effects of Environmentally Relevant Micro- and Nanoplastics

Researchers characterized the immunotoxic effects of over 20 types of micro- and nanoplastic particles on macrophages and dendritic cells, finding that physicochemical properties such as size, shape, polymer type, and surface oxidation strongly influence immune cell responses.

2025
Article Tier 2

Surface topography of nanoplastics modulates their internalization and toxicity in liver cells

Researchers found that the surface topography of nanoplastics significantly affects their internalization and toxicity in liver cells, revealing that surface roughness and texture modulate how these particles interact with cellular systems.

2023 Environmental Science Nano 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Are all nanoplastics equally neurotoxic? Influence of size and surface functionalization on the toxicity of polystyrene nanoplastics in human neuronal cells

Researchers tested four types of polystyrene nanoplastics on human neuronal cells and found that toxicity varied dramatically depending on particle surface chemistry. Particles with amine surface groups were the most harmful, significantly reducing cell survival and causing visible damage to cell structures, while unmodified particles showed minimal toxicity, suggesting that surface properties matter as much as size when assessing nanoplastic risks.

2025 Environmental Pollution 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastic induced cellular toxicity in mammals: A review

This review examines research on how micro- and nanoplastics cause cellular damage in mammalian systems, covering both laboratory and animal studies. Evidence indicates that these particles can trigger oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA damage in cells, with smaller nanoplastics generally showing greater toxicity due to their ability to penetrate cell membranes more readily.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 449 citations
Article Tier 2

An Overview of Nanoparticle Properties and Their Bioactivity

This systematic review summarized the properties and bioactivity of nanoparticles (1-100 nm), covering how their size, shape, and surface characteristics influence their behavior in biological systems and their potential applications in microbiology.

2023 International Journal of Biochemistry Research & Review 4 citations
Article Tier 2

In vitro study on the toxicity of nanoplastics with different charges to murine splenic lymphocytes

Researchers tested how nanoplastics with different surface charges affect immune cells from mouse spleens. They found that positively charged nanoplastics were significantly more toxic, causing greater cell death, more oxidative stress, and stronger inflammatory responses than negatively charged particles. The study suggests that the surface chemistry of nanoplastics plays a critical role in determining their impact on the immune system.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 115 citations
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

Size-dependent toxicological effects of microplastics: A review

This review synthesizes evidence on how microplastic and nanoplastic particle size influences toxicity across major organ systems, including digestive, reproductive, cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. Researchers found a broadly consistent pattern in which smaller particles, particularly those under 10 micrometers and at the nanoscale, tend to elicit stronger adverse responses due to enhanced barrier crossing, cellular uptake, and oxidative stress.

2026 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
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

Nanoplastic Toxicity: Insights and Challenges from Experimental Model Systems

This review summarizes what researchers have learned about nanoplastic toxicity from studies in cell cultures, aquatic organisms, and terrestrial animals. Evidence indicates that nanoplastics can be internalized by cells through various mechanisms and their toxicity depends on factors like particle size, surface modifications, and concentration. The study identifies key knowledge gaps and recommends more systematic research to better understand the health risks these particles may pose to humans.

2022 Small 85 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics as a return to the prebiotic dimensional regime: A dimensional perspective on interactions with biological membranes

This conceptual paper argues that nanoplastics are environmentally significant not primarily because of chemical toxicity, but because their nanoscale dimensions place them in the same physical regime as prebiotic structures that interact directly with biological membranes. The author proposes that membrane disruption, rather than chemical toxicity, is the key mechanism of nanoplastic harm.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Role of nanoparticle surface charge in their toxicity

This study examined how surface charge (carboxyl vs. amino functionalization) affects the toxicity of polystyrene nanoparticles formed during plastic degradation, noting that nanoparticle toxicity can differ substantially from bulk material. Results highlighted that surface chemistry is a critical determinant of nanoparticle behavior in biological environments.

2024 E3S Web of Conferences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Hazard assessment of nanoplastics is driven by their surface-functionalization. Effects in human-derived primary endothelial cells

Researchers tested three types of polystyrene nanoplastics with different surface coatings on human blood vessel cells and found that the surface chemistry dramatically affected their toxicity. Positively charged nanoplastics were the most harmful, killing cells, while all types caused DNA damage and oxidative stress. This study shows that as plastics break down in the environment and their surface properties change, their potential to harm the cardiovascular system may change in unpredictable ways.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 18 citations
Article Tier 2

The ancillary effects of nanoparticles and their implications for nanomedicine

Researchers reviewed 'ancillary effects' — the unintended biological interactions between nanoparticles and living systems that occur independent of engineered targeting or therapeutic functions — cataloguing how nanomaterial surface properties can modulate cell signaling, immune responses, and toxicity in ways that have major implications for nanomedicine safety and design.

2021 Nature Nanotechnology 228 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics as a return to the prebiotic dimensional regime: A dimensional perspective on interactions with biological membranes

This paper proposed a dimensional framework arguing that nanoplastics' relevance lies in their physical size — which places them in the same regime as prebiotic membrane structures — rather than chemical toxicity. The author argues this perspective reframes how nanoplastic health risks should be assessed and studied.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)