Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Transport of persistent organic pollutants: Another effect of microplastic pollution?

This review examines how microplastics act as vectors for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in aquatic environments, covering the physical and chemical factors governing pollutant adsorption and desorption. The authors discuss how interactions between microplastics and POPs vary with polymer type, particle properties, and environmental conditions, and when these interactions may result in toxic effects on aquatic organisms.

2022 Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Transport of micro- and nanoplastics in the environment: Trojan-Horse effect for organic contaminants

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics act as carriers for organic contaminants in the environment, a phenomenon known as the Trojan-Horse effect. Researchers found that these tiny plastic particles can adsorb both their own chemical additives and external pollutants, transporting them across ecosystems through water, air, and soil. The study suggests that the ability of microplastics to concentrate and deliver harmful chemicals to organisms may amplify their environmental and health impacts beyond the effects of the plastic particles alone.

2020 Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 163 citations
Article Tier 2

Interactions of microplastics with contaminants in freshwater systems: a review of characteristics, bioaccessibility, and environmental factors affecting sorption

This review examined how microplastics act as vectors for environmental contaminants in freshwater systems, analyzing the characteristics, bioaccessibility, and environmental factors that influence pollutant sorption onto plastic particles and their potential transfer to organisms including humans.

2023 Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part A 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of microplastics on the environmental behavior of emerging contaminants in aquatic matrices

This study examines how microplastics affect the environmental behavior of emerging contaminants in aquatic systems. Microplastics can adsorb other pollutants and alter their bioavailability, potentially increasing or decreasing toxic effects depending on the chemicals and environmental conditions.

2023 Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo)
Review Tier 2

Microplastic-Toxic Chemical Interaction: A Review Study on Quantified Levels, Mechanism and Implication

This review summarizes quantified levels of heavy metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants sorbed onto microplastics in environmental media, examining adsorption and desorption mechanisms and discussing health implications of ingested microplastics acting as vectors for toxic chemical transport.

2019 Preprints.org 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro(nano)plastics: Unignorable vectors for organisms

This review examines the role of micro- and nanoplastics as vectors for contaminants — including heavy metals, organic pollutants, and pathogens — in aquatic and terrestrial environments. It synthesizes evidence on how plastic particles can adsorb, transport, and release harmful substances, amplifying their ecological and health risks beyond the physical effects of the particles alone.

2019 Marine Pollution Bulletin 205 citations
Article Tier 2

Research progress on environmental occurrence of microplastics and their interaction mechanism with organic pollutants

This review summarizes how microplastics in the environment interact with organic pollutants—adsorbing, carrying, and releasing them. Microplastics act as mobile carriers for persistent organic chemicals, altering their distribution and toxicity in ecosystems and the organisms, including humans, that consume them.

2021 Scientia Sinica Chimica 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Partitioning of chemical contaminants to microplastics: Sorption mechanisms, environmental distribution and effects on toxicity and bioaccumulation

This review critically examines how chemical contaminants like persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals sorb onto microplastic surfaces in the environment. Researchers found that while microplastics can concentrate pollutants at levels far above surrounding water, the actual contribution of microplastics to contaminant transfer into organisms may be less significant than direct exposure from water and food. The study calls for more realistic experimental designs to clarify the true risk.

2019 Environmental Pollution 487 citations
Review Tier 2

Uptake/release of organic contaminants by microplastics: A critical review of influencing factors, mechanistic modeling, and thermodynamic prediction methods

This review critically examines the ability of microplastics to absorb and release organic chemical pollutants, evaluating the factors that influence this process and existing predictive models. Understanding whether microplastics act as significant vectors for pollutants into food chains requires better thermodynamic models that account for real-world complexity.

2020 Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 51 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as carriers of toxic pollutants: Source, transport, and toxicological effects

This review summarizes how microplastics absorb and carry toxic pollutants like persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, and antibiotics through the environment, concentrating these harmful chemicals as they move through ecosystems. When organisms ingest these contaminated particles, the pollutants can build up in the food chain and eventually reach humans, making microplastics not just a physical hazard but also a chemical delivery system.

2023 Environmental Pollution 261 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption Behavior of Microplastics as a Carrier of Various Contaminants and Their Ecotoxicity in Aquatic Environment

This review examines how microplastics in aquatic environments act as "Trojan horse" carriers, adsorbing other pollutants (heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals) onto their surfaces through hydrophobic, electrostatic, and hydrogen-bond interactions. Co-exposure of microplastics plus adsorbed contaminants has been shown to amplify oxidative stress, reduce reproduction rates, and impair photosynthesis in aquatic organisms — suggesting the combined risk of microplastics plus hitchhiking chemicals is greater than either alone.

2023 Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors for environmental contaminants in the food chain: Assessing the combined toxicological effects and bioavailability

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics act as carriers for environmental pollutants including heavy metals, organic chemicals, and microbial agents as they move through food chains. Researchers detail how polymer type, particle size, and environmental conditions influence the binding and release of these contaminants. The study highlights that the combined toxicity of microplastics together with the pollutants they carry may be greater than either would cause alone.

2025 Toxicology Letters 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Do microplastics mediate the effects of chemicals on aquatic organisms?

This review examined whether microplastics act as vectors for chemical contaminants in aquatic organisms, finding that while chemicals can sorb to microplastics, the evidence for microplastics significantly enhancing chemical toxicity in natural settings remains limited.

2021 Aquatic Toxicology 25 citations
Article Tier 2

[Research Progress on Trojan-horse Effect of Microplastics and Heavy Metals in Freshwater Environment].

This review examines the Trojan-horse effect in freshwater environments where microplastics adsorb and transport heavy metals, significantly increasing their potential ecological harm due to the large surface area and persistence of microplastic particles.

2023 PubMed 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as Vectors of Chemicals and Microorganisms in the Environment

This review examines microplastics as vectors for chemicals and microorganisms in the environment, discussing the 'plastisphere' concept, hydrophobic surface interactions that facilitate pollutant adsorption, biofilm formation, and the mechanisms by which microplastics transport contaminants and pathogens through aquatic systems.

2020 29 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Combined toxicity of micro/nanoplastics loaded with environmental pollutants to organisms and cells: Role, effects, and mechanism

This review of 162 articles found that micro/nanoplastics act as vectors transporting heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, drugs, bacteria, and viruses into organisms, with combined exposure often increasing toxicity beyond individual pollutant effects. Nanoplastics' 'Trojan horse' effect specifically increased the bioaccessibility of environmental pollutants, elevating carcinogenic risk to humans.

2022 Environment International 190 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

A systematic review of microplastics in the environment: Sampling, separation, characterization and coexistence mechanisms with pollutants

Massive microplastic pollution was documented across Africa, Asia, India, South Africa, North America, and Europe, with MPs acting as carriers of heavy metals that enter organisms and cause harm. The adsorption capacity of organic pollutants onto microplastics correlated with hydrophobicity, surface area, and functional group characteristics.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 71 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption and Desorption Behaviour of Polychlorinated Biphenyls onto Microplastics’ Surfaces in Water/Sediment Systems

Researchers evaluated the adsorption and desorption behavior of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) onto polystyrene, polyethylene, and polyethylene terephthalate microplastics of varying sizes in marine water/sediment systems. Results showed that polymer type and particle size influenced PCB binding capacity, with microplastics acting as potential vectors for transferring persistent organic pollutants to marine biota through the food chain.

2020 Toxics 86 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors for environmental contaminants: Exploring sorption, desorption, and transfer to biota

This review explores how microplastics interact with hydrophobic organic chemicals in aquatic environments, examining the processes of chemical sorption onto and desorption from plastic particles. Researchers discuss the factors that influence whether microplastics act as significant carriers of environmental contaminants into living organisms compared to natural pathways. Understanding these processes is essential for accurately assessing the real-world risk that microplastics pose as chemical transport vehicles.

2017 Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 632 citations
Article Tier 2

The bioaccumulation effects of microplastics and associated organic pollutants in the aquatic environment

This review examined how microplastics in aquatic environments interact with organic pollutants through adsorption, affecting the bioaccumulation and toxicity of those pollutants in aquatic organisms due to the high hydrophobicity of microplastic surfaces.

2021 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 5 citations
Article Tier 2

The impact of microplastic pollution on ecological environment: a review

This review examines the broad ecological impact of microplastic pollution, focusing on how the strong adsorption capacity of microplastic surfaces allows them to carry persistent organic pollutants through the environment. Researchers found that the combined effects of microplastics and adsorbed chemicals increase toxicity to organisms across different levels of the food chain. The study calls for more research into the long-term ecological consequences of microplastic pollution and its synergistic effects with other contaminants.

2022 Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark 102 citations
Review Tier 2

The chemical behaviors of microplastics in marine environment: A review

This review summarized interactions between microplastics and organic pollutants and metals in the marine environment, covering sorption behavior across polymer types, the role of degradation in altering sorption capacity, and global monitoring data on pollutant concentrations on marine plastics. The authors conclude that microplastic type, pollutant properties, and environmental conditions all strongly influence chemical accumulation on plastic surfaces.

2019 Marine Pollution Bulletin 654 citations
Article Tier 2

Vector effects of microplastics on organic pollutants: sorption-desorption and bioaccumulation kinetics

This review synthesizes existing research on whether microplastics act as carriers that increase the bioaccumulation of organic pollutants in aquatic organisms. Researchers found evidence that microplastics can adsorb hydrophobic pollutants from water and release them in the gut of organisms that ingest them, potentially enhancing toxic effects. The study acknowledges the ongoing debate between vector and no-vector perspectives and outlines a consensus based on the available sorption, desorption, and bioaccumulation data.

2025 Chemosphere 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors of contaminants

This review highlights the emerging role of microplastics as carriers of biological and chemical contaminants in water environments. Researchers note that while microplastic pollution is increasingly well-documented, the interactions between contaminants adsorbed onto microplastic surfaces and aquatic organisms remain poorly understood. The study stresses the need for further investigation into how microplastics may facilitate the transport and bioavailability of pollutants.

2019 Marine Pollution Bulletin 331 citations