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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Synergistic effects of marine pollutants and microplastics on the destabilization of lipid bilayers
ClearSynergistic effects of marine pollutants and microplastics on the destabilization of lipid bilayers
Researchers found that marine pollutants and microplastics act synergistically to destabilize lipid bilayers, suggesting that the combined presence of plastic particles and co-adsorbed chemicals may amplify cellular membrane damage beyond what either stressor causes alone.
Synergistic effects of marine pollutants and microplastics on the destabilization of lipid bilayers
Researchers found that marine pollutants such as chemical solvents synergistically amplify the mechanical stress that microplastic particles exert on lipid bilayer membranes, with microplastics acting as vectors that facilitate solvent penetration into membrane cores and potentially disrupting cellular integrity.
Synergistic Effects of Microplastics and Marine Pollutants on the Destabilization of Lipid Bilayers
Using computer simulations, this study showed that microplastics combined with common marine pollutants can destabilize the lipid membranes that protect our cells. The pollutants attached to microplastic surfaces were more effective at penetrating cell membranes than the pollutants alone. This means microplastics may act as carriers that help harmful chemicals get into cells more easily, increasing their toxic effects.
Ageing Affects the Mechanical Interactionbetween Microplastics and Lipid Bilayers
Researchers found that as polyethylene microplastics age and become more hydrophilic, they adhere more strongly to lipid bilayers and cause greater membrane stretching, suggesting that weathered microplastics in the environment may pose higher biological risks than fresh particles.
A review on the combined toxicological effects of microplastics and their attached pollutants
Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as carriers for other environmental pollutants — including heavy metals and persistent organic chemicals — and how these combinations produce toxic effects in organisms that are more severe than either contaminant alone. The findings highlight a complex, layered toxicity problem that affects microbes, invertebrates, and vertebrates across marine and terrestrial environments.
Toxic effects on ciliates under nano-/micro-plastics coexist with silver nanoparticles
Researchers tested the combined effects of different-sized plastic particles with silver nanoparticles on marine microorganisms and found that the mixture was more toxic than either pollutant alone. Smaller nanoplastics combined with silver nanoparticles caused the most severe damage, disrupting energy and fat metabolism and causing DNA and protein damage. This study shows how microplastics can amplify the toxicity of other environmental pollutants in marine food chains.
Aging affects the mechanical interaction between microplastics and lipid bilayers
Researchers examined how environmental aging affects the mechanical interaction between microplastics and lipid bilayers, a key component of biological membranes. Using polyethylene pellets collected from a Spanish beach and categorized by yellowing index, they found that aged microplastics showed significantly increased adhesion to lipid bilayers and caused greater membrane stretching. The findings suggest that weathered microplastics may interact more aggressively with biological membranes than pristine particles.
Effects of polyethylene microplastics on cell membranes: A combined study of experiments and molecular dynamics simulations
Researchers combined laboratory experiments with molecular dynamics simulations to study how polyethylene microplastics interact with cell membranes. They found that nanoscale plastic particles can penetrate and disrupt cell membrane structure, causing leakage and potentially leading to cell damage. The study provides a detailed molecular-level understanding of one of the fundamental ways microplastics may harm living cells.
Interactions of microplastics and organic compounds in aquatic environments: A case study of augmented joint toxicity
Researchers investigated how polystyrene microplastics interact with the antimicrobial compound triclosan in simulated environmental and cellular conditions. They found that surface-functionalized microplastics adsorbed significantly more triclosan and released it under cellular conditions, with the combination producing greater toxicity to human intestinal cells than either contaminant alone. The study suggests that microplastics can amplify the harmful effects of co-occurring organic pollutants.
Lipidomic analysis of single and combined effects of polyethylene microplastics and polychlorinated biphenyls on human hepatoma cells
Researchers used lipidomic analysis to study the single and combined effects of polyethylene microplastics and polychlorinated biphenyls on human liver cancer cells. While microplastics alone did not cause significant cell death, the combined exposure with PCBs produced distinct changes in cellular lipid profiles that differed from individual exposures. The study suggests that microplastics may alter how cells respond to co-occurring chemical pollutants through a "Trojan Horse" transport mechanism.
Microplastics and associated emerging contaminants in the environment: Analysis, sorption mechanisms and effects of co-exposure
Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as carriers for other environmental pollutants — including antibiotics, PFAS, and triclosan — absorbing them from surrounding water and potentially delivering higher doses to organisms that ingest the plastic, with combined toxicity effects that can be either amplified or reduced depending on the combination.
Insights into the synergistic toxicity mechanisms caused by nano- and microplastics with triclosan using a dose-dependent functional genomics approach in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Researchers used yeast functional genomics to investigate the combined toxicity of polystyrene nano- and microplastics with the antimicrobial compound triclosan. They found that the combined exposure produced synergistic toxic effects that were more harmful than either contaminant alone, disrupting cellular processes related to membrane integrity and protein function. The study provides molecular-level evidence that microplastics may amplify the toxicity of co-occurring chemical pollutants.
Potential Health Risks of Micro-Nanoplastics and Persistent Organic Pollutants: A Review of Exposure Pathways and Toxic Effects
This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics can enhance the bioavailability of persistent organic pollutants through a Trojan horse effect, leading to combined inflammatory, cellular, and metabolic toxic effects that threaten human health beyond what either contaminant causes alone.
Synergistic toxicity of PFAS and microplastic mixtures across five human cell lines
Researchers tested the combined toxicity of PFAS chemicals and microplastics on five types of human cells representing the kidney, liver, prostate, skin, and lung. They found that mixtures of these common environmental contaminants produced synergistic harmful effects, particularly in kidney and liver cells, including increased oxidative stress and DNA damage. The study suggests that the combined exposure to PFAS and microplastics, which frequently co-occur in the environment, may pose greater health risks than either pollutant alone.
Lipid mediated colloidal interactions
This physics thesis studied lipid-mediated forces between protein-embedded membranes using micron-sized colloidal particles as probes. It is a biophysics paper with no direct connection to microplastics or environmental contamination.
Microplastics destabilize lipid membranes by mechanical stretching
Researchers discovered a physical mechanism by which microplastics can damage cell membranes through mechanical stretching, even without chemical toxicity. Using model lipid membranes, they showed that microplastic particles partially engulfed by cell membranes create mechanical tension that destabilizes the membrane structure. The study reveals a fundamental way that microplastics could harm living cells, suggesting that physical interactions at the cellular level may be just as important as chemical effects.
Impact of Co-Presence of Endotoxins and Microplastics on Seawater Biophysicochemical Indicators
Researchers examined the combined effects of endotoxins and micro/nanoplastics on seawater biophysicochemical properties, finding that their co-presence alters marine water characteristics and that endotoxins associated with plastic surfaces may be transported and dispersed more widely in marine systems.
Nanoplastics as a return to the prebiotic dimensional regime: A dimensional perspective on interactions with biological membranes
This paper offers a dimensional perspective on nanoplastic-membrane interactions, arguing that nanoplastics occupy the same size range as early prebiotic structures and can physically integrate with or disrupt lipid bilayers. The framework suggests that physical membrane perturbation — independent of chemical toxicity — is central to nanoplastic health risks.
Micro- and nanoplastics effects in a multiple stressed marine environment
Researchers examined how micro- and nanoplastics interact with other environmental stressors in marine settings, finding that realistic multi-stressor scenarios can amplify or modify plastic toxicity in ways single-exposure studies miss.
Effects of microplastics on the toxicity of co-existing pollutants to fish: A meta-analysis
Meta-analysis of 1,380 biological endpoints from 55 studies found that microplastics in co-existing pollutant solutions significantly increased toxicity to fish beyond what the pollutants caused alone, particularly elevating immune system damage, metabolic disruption, and oxidative stress. The effect depended on fish life stage and microplastic size, but not on pollutant or polymer type.
Microplastics as vectors of environmental contaminants: Interactions in the natural ecosystems
This review examines how microplastics act as vectors for pathogens, persistent organic pollutants, and heavy metals in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, summarising evidence that these particles damage cell membranes, tissues, and physiological processes in exposed organisms.
Immunotoxicity of petroleum hydrocarbons and microplastics alone or in combination to a bivalve species: Synergic impacts and potential toxication mechanisms
Marine mussels exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons and microplastics separately and together showed that combined exposure caused greater immune suppression and lysosomal damage than either stressor alone, identifying oxidative stress pathways as a key mechanism of joint toxicity.
Combined effects of microplastics and chemical contaminants on the organ toxicity of zebrafish ( Danio rerio )
Researchers studied the combined effects of microplastics and chemical contaminants like PCBs and methylmercury on zebrafish organs over three weeks of exposure. They found that microplastics carrying adsorbed contaminants produced the most significant effects, particularly on the liver, compared to either microplastics or contaminants alone. The results indicate that microplastics may act as carriers that increase the delivery of harmful chemicals to organisms' tissues.
Interactions between microplastics and oil dispersion in the marine environment
Researchers investigated interactions between microplastics and crude oil in marine environments, finding that microplastics adsorb oil components and can reduce the effectiveness of chemical dispersants used in oil spill response by competing for surfactant molecules and altering oil droplet behavior.