Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastics-induced stress in plants: uptake, physiological disruption, and toxicity mechanisms

This review paper summarizes existing research on how tiny plastic particles (called microplastics and nanoplastics) are absorbed by plants and damage their health. These plastic particles can build up in plant tissues and disrupt how plants grow and function, which matters because we eat these plants. Since plastic pollution keeps breaking down into smaller pieces that plants absorb, this could eventually affect the safety and quality of our food supply.

2026 Frontiers in Plant Science
Article Tier 2

The threat of micro/nanoplastic to aquatic plants: current knowledge, gaps, and future perspectives

This review summarizes what is known about how micro- and nanoplastics affect aquatic plants, including how plants absorb these particles through roots and leaves and transport them internally. Exposure can alter plant growth, photosynthesis, and interactions with other organisms, though effects vary widely depending on plastic type and concentration. The authors highlight major research gaps and call for more studies on real-world conditions rather than controlled lab settings.

2023 Aquatic Toxicology 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic/nanoplastic toxicity in plants: an imminent concern

This review examines the growing body of research on how microplastics and nanoplastics affect terrestrial plants, from root uptake to changes in growth and gene expression. Researchers found that these particles can alter plant physiology and biochemistry at varying degrees depending on particle size and concentration. The study calls for more research on how plastic contamination in soil may ultimately affect food crop quality and human health through the food chain.

2022 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 182 citations
Article Tier 2

Absorption of microplastics by terrestrial plants and their ecological risk

This review describes how microplastics enter terrestrial plants through both root systems in soil and leaf surfaces from airborne particles, and how they accumulate within plant tissues. Researchers discuss the direct physical damage from the plastic particles as well as the toxicity of chemical additives like plasticizers and UV stabilizers. The findings raise concerns about food safety, since microplastics absorbed by crop plants could enter human diets through the food chain.

2025 New Contaminants 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro and nanoplastics pollution: Sources, distribution, uptake in plants, toxicological effects, and innovative remediation strategies for environmental sustainability

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics enter plants through roots, disrupt growth and photosynthesis, and cause oxidative stress that reduces crop yields. Because these plastic particles can move through plant tissues and into edible parts, they represent a potential pathway for microplastics to enter the human food supply.

2024 Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro (nano) plastics uptake, toxicity and detoxification in plants: Challenges and prospects

This review examines how micro and nanoplastics are taken up by plants, covering their toxic effects on growth and gene expression as well as potential detoxification strategies. Smaller nanoplastics can penetrate plant cell walls and accumulate in tissues, causing oxidative stress and genetic damage. The findings are important for human health because contaminated crops could transfer microplastics directly into the food supply.

2023 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Uptake, transport and accumulation of micro- and nano-plastics in terrestrial plants and health risk associated with their transfer to food chain - A mini review.

This review examines how micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) are taken up, transported, and accumulated in terrestrial plants, and assesses the associated health risks as MNPs transfer through the food chain from contaminated soil and water environments.

2023 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as emerging stressors in plants: biochemical and metabolic responses

This review examines how microplastics act as environmental stressors in plants, disrupting biochemical and metabolic processes including photosynthesis, antioxidant defenses, and nutrient uptake, with effects varying by polymer type, particle size, and concentration.

2025 Environmental Geochemistry and Health
Article Tier 2

Accumulation of plastics in terrestrial crop plants and its impact on the plant growth

This review examines how small plastic particles accumulate in crop plants and affect plant growth, finding that microplastics can enter plant tissues and disrupt physiological processes. Crops grown in microplastic-contaminated soil could carry plastic particles into the food supply, raising concerns about dietary exposure.

2021 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Research Progress on the Mechanisms of Terrestrial Plant Uptake, Transport, and Growth Inhibition Responses to Micro (nano) Plastics

This review synthesizes current research on how terrestrial plants take up micro- and nanoplastics from contaminated soil, finding that particles can enter through roots, accumulate in plant tissues, block root function, and trigger oxidative damage that stunts growth. These pathways mean that food crops grown in microplastic-contaminated soils could expose humans to plastic particles through the diet, in addition to the harm caused to agricultural productivity.

2024 Preprints.org 3 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Effects of nano- & microplastics on terrestrial plants are ubiquitous and widespread: a systematic review

This systematic review finds that nano- and microplastics have widespread negative effects on plants, including reduced germination, stunted growth, and biochemical stress responses. Since plants form the base of our food supply, these findings suggest that microplastic contamination in agricultural soils could affect crop health and potentially the quality of food we eat.

2023 CNR ExploRA
Systematic Review Tier 1

Nano- and microplastics commonly cause adverse impacts on plants at environmentally relevant levels: A systematic review

Systematic review of 78 studies found that nano- and microplastics commonly cause adverse effects on plants even at environmentally relevant concentrations, with germination and root growth more strongly affected than shoot growth during early development. Chlorophyll levels were consistently reduced while stress indicators (ROS) and antioxidant enzymes were consistently upregulated across species.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 100 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/nanoplastics: a potential threat to crops

This review examines micro- and nanoplastic contamination in agricultural soil and water, summarizing sources, adsorption onto microplastics, uptake pathways into crops, effects on plant growth and physiology, and current detection and removal approaches, while highlighting the limited data on nanoplastic transport in plants.

2023 Vegetable Research 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution: Phytotoxicity, environmental risks, and phytoremediation strategies

This review examines how microplastics harm plants through oxidative stress, interference with photosynthesis, and DNA damage, and explores whether plants could be used to clean up microplastic pollution. Plants can absorb tiny microplastics through their roots and leaves, and the plastics accumulate along the food chain, making health risk assessment difficult. The authors discuss phytoremediation strategies where specific plants could help remove microplastics from contaminated soil.

2023 Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 42 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Bioavailability and phytotoxicity of micro/nanoplastics to aquatic plants: Trends, environmental drivers and mechanisms

This meta-analysis found that micro- and nanoplastics cause significant harm to aquatic plants, reducing their biomass and chlorophyll content through oxidative stress. Polyethylene was especially damaging, cutting plant biomass by over 42%. When plastic pollution harms the base of aquatic food chains, the effects can ripple upward through ecosystems that support both wildlife and human food sources.

2025 Chemical Engineering Journal 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Plants and microplastics: Growing impacts in the terrestrial environment

This review examines how microplastics affect plant growth and food crops, finding that exposure generally reduces plant size, chlorophyll content, and photosynthesis, though low concentrations can sometimes stimulate root growth. Plants can take up plastic particles smaller than 1 micrometer through their roots and move them to other tissues. These findings raise concerns that microplastics in soil, which can occur at higher levels than in water, could affect the health and nutritional quality of the food crops that people depend on.

2025 Frontiers in Plant Science 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: toxicity and tolerance in plants

Researchers reviewed how microplastics harm both land plants and water plants by disrupting their growth, nutrient uptake, and genetic function, while also triggering the plants' own defense systems in response. Understanding how plants tolerate microplastic exposure is important because contaminated crops could eventually affect human health through the food chain.

2024 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

Effects of nanoplastics and microplastics on the growth of sediment-rooted macrophytes

Both nano- and microplastic particles negatively affected the growth of freshwater macrophytes in sediment-rooted experiments, with nanoplastics causing more pronounced effects at lower concentrations. The findings highlight that aquatic plants, which form the base of many freshwater food webs, are vulnerable to plastic particle pollution.

2018 The Science of The Total Environment 304 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxic effects of microplastics on aquatic plants

This review examines the toxic effects of microplastics on freshwater and aquatic plants, which are often the first organisms exposed in aquatic ecosystems. Microplastics can reduce plant growth, disrupt photosynthesis, and affect nutrient uptake, with effects varying by polymer type and particle size.

2023 Repository of the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb
Article Tier 2

Understanding the possible cellular responses in plants under micro(nano)-plastic (MNPs): Balancing the structural harmony with functions.

This review summarizes current understanding of how micro- and nano-plastics affect plant physiology, covering uptake pathways, effects on cell walls and chloroplasts, and responses to oxidative stress. The findings highlight that plants are exposed to and affected by microplastics through both soil and aerial routes.

2024 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances on Multilevel Effects of Micro(Nano)Plastics and Coexisting Pollutants on Terrestrial Soil-Plants System

This review systematically summarizes how micro- and nanoplastics, alone and combined with co-existing pollutants, affect soil properties and terrestrial plants at multiple biological levels. Researchers found that microplastics can serve as carriers for heavy metals, organic contaminants, and biological pollutants, with their specific impacts depending on polymer type, size, shape, and concentration. Evidence indicates that plants can take up and transport micro- and nanoplastics, leading to effects on growth, metabolism, and even DNA damage.

2023 Sustainability 28 citations
Article Tier 2

From Soil to Table: Pathways, Influencing Factors, and Human Health Risks of Micro- and Nanoplastic Uptake by Plants in Terrestrial Ecosystems

This review traces the pathways by which micro- and nanoplastics move from soil into food crops in terrestrial ecosystems. Researchers found that plants absorb these particles through roots and atmospheric deposition, with adverse effects on plant growth and development, raising concerns about food chain contamination and human health risks from consuming affected crops.

2026 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

Microplastic stress in plants: effects on plant growth and their remediations

This review examines how microplastic contamination in soil affects plant growth through multiple pathways, including blocking water and nutrient absorption through roots, triggering harmful levels of reactive oxygen species, and disrupting hormone regulation. The effects vary depending on the type, size, and amount of microplastic present. Since plants are the foundation of our food supply, understanding how microplastics impair crop health is directly relevant to food safety and human nutrition.

2023 Frontiers in Plant Science 188 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances on microplastics/nanoplastics interaction with plant species: A concise review

This review synthesizes research on how microplastics and nanoplastics interact with plants, finding that plastic particles in soil can interfere with root uptake, germination, and crop yields depending on the type and concentration of plastic present. The findings are particularly relevant to human health because food crops grown in microplastic-contaminated agricultural soils may absorb or accumulate plastic particles, creating a direct dietary exposure route.

2023 Malaysian Journal of Chemical Engineering and Technology