Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

The Impact of Micro- and Nanoplastics on Aquatic Organisms: Mechanisms of Oxidative Stress and Implications for Human Health—A Review

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics cause oxidative stress, a harmful chemical imbalance, in aquatic organisms from plankton to fish. These tiny plastics accumulate in the food chain and may reach humans through seafood consumption. While the evidence of harm in aquatic species is growing, more research is needed to fully understand the implications for human health.

2023 Environments 65 citations
Article Tier 2

Do microplastics induce oxidative stress in marine invertebrates?

This review examined whether marine invertebrates exposed to microplastics show evidence of oxidative stress — a common cellular response to toxic injury — finding support for this effect across multiple species and polymer types. Oxidative stress is a key mechanism by which microplastics may harm marine organisms.

2018 Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar-und Meeresforschung (Alfred-Wegener-Institut) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Oxidative Stress—Current Problems and Prospects

This review examines how microplastics cause oxidative stress, a condition where harmful molecules called free radicals damage cells. Microplastics have been linked to DNA damage, cell membrane disruption, mitochondrial problems, inflammation, and cell death, all driven by oxidative stress. These effects may contribute to serious health conditions including cancer and cardiovascular disease, though the authors note that more research is needed to fully understand the risks.

2024 Antioxidants 196 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and human health: unraveling the toxicological pathways and implications for public health

This review pulls together recent research on how microplastics enter the human body and cause cellular damage through inflammation, oxidative stress, and direct cell injury. The authors highlight that microplastics can also amplify the harmful effects of other environmental pollutants they carry, creating combined health risks that are greater than either threat alone.

2025 Frontiers in Public Health 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicological interactions of microplastics/nanoplastics and environmental contaminants: Current knowledge and future perspectives

This review examines how the combined presence of micro- and nanoplastics with other environmental contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals affects toxicity. Researchers found that plastic particles can alter the bioavailability and toxic effects of co-occurring pollutants, sometimes increasing harm to organisms, which complicates environmental risk assessment.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 501 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental Pollutants and Oxidative Stress in Terrestrial and Aquatic Organisms: Examination of the Total Picture and Implications for Human Health

This comprehensive review examines how various environmental pollutants, including microplastics, toxic metals, and pesticides, induce oxidative stress in both terrestrial and aquatic organisms. The study highlights the interconnected pathways through which pollution-driven oxidative damage in wildlife may carry implications for understanding broader environmental health risks.

2022 Frontiers in Physiology 46 citations
Article Tier 2

The combined effects of phenanthrene and micro-/nanoplastics mixtures on the cellular stress responses of the thick-shell mussel Mytilus coruscus

Scientists exposed thick-shell mussels to a combination of micro- and nanoplastics along with a common pollutant (phenanthrene) to study their combined effects. The mixtures caused more severe immune cell damage, increased oxidative stress, and stronger inflammatory responses than either pollutant alone. Evidence indicates that micro- and nanoplastics can worsen the toxic effects of organic pollutants in marine shellfish.

2023 Environmental Pollution 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics, Endocrine Disruptors, and Oxidative Stress: Mechanisms and Health Implications

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics trigger oxidative stress as a central mechanism of toxicity across multiple organ systems, including reproductive, cardiovascular, hepatic, and neurological tissues. The study highlights that these particles often carry endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A and phthalates, which together generate reactive oxygen species, impair mitochondrial function, and compromise antioxidant defenses.

2025 International Journal of Molecular Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Combined Molecular Toxicity Mechanism of Microplastics Mixtures

This review examines how microplastics interact with other environmental pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals, altering how toxic those substances behave. The study explores the molecular mechanisms behind these combined toxicity effects, which matter because in real-world environments, organisms are rarely exposed to microplastics in isolation.

2025 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nano-plastics activation of oxidative and inflammatory adverse outcome pathways

This review maps the biological harm caused by micro- and nanoplastics to formal toxicity pathways, finding that oxidative stress is a common starting point for damage at every level from cells to whole organisms. Researchers found that in ecological settings, this oxidative damage cascades into growth inhibition and behavioral changes, while in human health contexts it may trigger inflammatory responses. The study highlights that more mammalian research is needed to fully define the health risks of plastic particle exposure.

2020 Redox Biology 566 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity and Health Effects of Microplastics

This chapter provides an overview of the toxic effects microplastics have on a wide range of organisms, from marine and freshwater species to soil-dwelling creatures and humans. Researchers discuss how microplastics accumulate in living organisms and the mechanisms by which they cause harm, including oxidative stress and inflammation. The study also examines how microplastics can amplify the toxicity of other environmental pollutants when they occur together.

2025 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Oxidative and Inflammatory Potential of Nano/Microplastics in Living Organisms

This review examines the growing body of evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics trigger oxidative stress and inflammatory responses across a wide range of animals, though the findings are often inconsistent and sometimes contradictory. The authors conclude that plastic particle weathering can alter these effects in complex ways, and call for standardized, systematic research to establish clearer dose-response relationships before firm regulatory conclusions can be drawn.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro/nano-plastics and microalgae in aquatic environment: Influence factor, interaction, and molecular mechanisms.

This review examined the interactions between micro/nanoplastics and microalgae in aquatic environments, summarizing how plastic particle size, surface chemistry, and co-pollutants influence algal toxicity through oxidative stress, photosynthesis inhibition, and gene expression changes.

2024 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Evidence that microplastics aggravate the toxicity of organophosphorus flame retardants in mice (Mus musculus)

Researchers co-exposed mice to polyethylene and polystyrene microplastics along with organophosphorus flame retardants for 90 days and found that microplastics aggravated the toxicity of the flame retardants. Evidence from biochemical markers and metabolomics indicated increased oxidative stress and metabolic disruption in co-exposed animals, suggesting microplastics may worsen the health effects of chemical pollutants they encounter in the environment.

2018 Journal of Hazardous Materials 229 citations
Article Tier 2

Efectos Celulares De La Exposición a Micropartículas Plásticas En Organismos Acuáticos

This review examines cellular effects of microplastic and nanoplastic exposure in aquatic organisms, synthesizing laboratory evidence that plastics alone or combined with other toxicants cause membrane lysis, mitochondrial damage, reactive oxygen species generation, genotoxicity, and apoptosis.

2022 Kuxulkab
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-Induced Cellular Stress: Emerging Mechanisms Linking Environmental Nanoparticles to Human Metabolic Disorders

This book reviewed emerging cellular mechanisms by which microplastics induce stress in human cells, with a focus on how environmental nanoparticles contribute to metabolic disorders. It connected microplastic exposure to oxidative stress, inflammation, and disruption of cellular homeostasis.

2025 Bright Sky Publications eBooks
Article Tier 2

Synergistic 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.

2023
Article Tier 2

Molecular toxicity of nanoplastics involving in oxidative stress and desoxyribonucleic acid damage

This review examines the molecular mechanisms by which nanoplastics induce oxidative stress and DNA damage in biological systems, synthesizing findings from cell culture and animal studies. The evidence suggests that nanoplastics can cause genotoxic effects at the cellular level, which is relevant to understanding potential long-term health risks of chronic nanoplastic exposure.

2019 Journal of Molecular Recognition 64 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Journal of medicine and health science.
Article Tier 2

Mechanisms of Cell Toxicity Caused by Degraded Microplastics

This review examined the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which degraded microplastics cause toxicity, focusing on how physical and chemical changes during environmental weathering alter plastic particle biological activity. The paper discussed oxidative stress, membrane disruption, and inflammatory pathways as key toxicity mechanisms of degraded microplastic fragments.

2024 YAKUGAKU ZASSHI 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Combined toxicity of polyethylene microplastics and nickel oxide nanoparticle on earthworm (Eisenia andrei): oxidative stress responses, bioavailability and joint effect

Researchers studied the combined toxicity of polyethylene microplastics and nickel oxide nanoparticles on earthworms over 28 days. They found that smaller microplastics caused greater oxidative stress, and the combination of both pollutants was more harmful than either one alone. The study suggests that the co-occurrence of microplastics and metal nanoparticles in soil can amplify negative effects on soil-dwelling organisms.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxic Chemicals and Persistent Organic Pollutants Associated with Micro-and Nanoplastics Pollution

Researchers reviewed how micro- and nanoplastics act as carriers for toxic chemical additives and persistent organic pollutants — like flame retardants and pesticides — making these contaminants more available and harmful once they enter food chains and human bodies. The review identifies major gaps in understanding how these chemicals detach from plastic particles inside living organisms and what health effects they cause.

2022 Chemical Engineering Journal Advances 218 citations
Article Tier 2

Oxidative stress–mediated synergistic deleterious effects of nano- and microplastics in the hypoxia-conditioned marine rotifer Brachionus plicatilis

Researchers found that co-exposure to nano- and microplastics under low-oxygen conditions produced synergistic harmful effects in marine rotifers across multiple generations, driven by oxidative stress and disruption of the hypoxia-inducible factor pathway.

2022 Marine Pollution Bulletin 25 citations