Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Polystyrene exacerbates cadmium‐induced mitochondrial damage to lung by blocking autophagy in mice

Researchers found that polystyrene microplastics exacerbated cadmium-induced mitochondrial damage in mouse lungs by blocking autophagy, revealing a synergistic toxicity mechanism when these two common environmental contaminants co-occur.

2023 Environmental Toxicology 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastic-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and organelle miscommunication: A toxicological perspective

This review examined how micro- and nanoplastics disrupt mitochondrial function and inter-organelle communication in cells. The evidence indicates that these particles cause oxidative stress, calcium dysregulation, impaired energy production, and activation of stress responses including autophagy and cell death, with cascading effects on lysosomes, the endoplasmic reticulum, and nuclear function.

2025 Toxicology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Cadmium-Induced Oxidative Damage and the Expression and Function of Mitochondrial Thioredoxin in Phascolosoma esculenta

This study investigated how cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, damages a marine invertebrate by causing oxidative stress and disrupting mitochondrial function. The organism's thioredoxin defense system tried to counteract the damage but was overwhelmed at higher cadmium levels. While focused on cadmium toxicity, the findings are relevant to microplastics research because microplastics in marine environments can concentrate and transport heavy metals like cadmium into organisms and up the food chain.

2024 International Journal of Molecular Sciences 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Mitochondria as a target of micro- and nanoplastic toxicity

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics damage mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside cells. Studies show that plastic particles can disrupt energy production, cause harmful oxidative stress, and interfere with the cell's ability to repair or recycle damaged mitochondria. Since mitochondrial damage is linked to many chronic diseases including heart disease, neurodegeneration, and diabetes, this helps explain why microplastic exposure may have widespread health effects.

2025 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Redefining the synergistic toxicity of nano-plastics and cadmium in earthworm coelomocytes: the mechanism of α-amylase molecular docking orientation and energy crisis

Researchers exposed earthworm immune cells (coelomocytes) to polystyrene nanoplastics combined with the heavy metal cadmium, finding that nanoplastics act as carriers that amplify cadmium uptake and worsen oxidative stress, energy metabolism disruption, and enzyme damage beyond what cadmium causes alone.

2025 International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Mitochondria as a target of micro- and nanoplastic toxicity

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics damage mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside our cells. Research shows these tiny plastic particles can cross biological barriers, enter cells, and disrupt mitochondrial function by triggering oxidative stress and altering energy production. Since mitochondrial damage is linked to diseases like cancer, diabetes, and neurodegeneration, this represents a key concern for human health.

2024 Cambridge Prisms Plastics 30 citations
Article Tier 2

NewEvidence forthe Mechanisms of Nanoplastics AmplifyingCadmium Cytotoxicity: Trojan Horse Effect, Inflammatory Response,and Calcium Imbalance

Researchers found that nanoplastics amplify cadmium cytotoxicity by transporting cadmium ions into cells more efficiently than cadmium alone, identifying specific molecular mechanisms involving membrane disruption and intracellular cadmium accumulation that explain the synergistic toxicity.

2025 Figshare
Review Tier 2

Current Levels of Environmental Exposure to Cadmium in Industrialized Countries as a Risk Factor for Kidney Damage in the General Population: A Comprehensive Review of Available Data

This comprehensive review examines whether everyday environmental exposure to cadmium in industrialized countries is high enough to damage kidneys in the general population. The evidence suggests that even low-level chronic exposure can harm kidney function, especially in vulnerable groups. While focused on cadmium, this is relevant to microplastics research because microplastics can absorb and transport heavy metals like cadmium into the body.

2023 International Journal of Molecular Sciences 65 citations
Article Tier 2

The gut microbiota: A key player in cadmium toxicity - implications for disease, interventions, and combined toxicant exposures

This review examines how cadmium, a toxic heavy metal found in contaminated soil and water, damages health partly by disrupting gut bacteria. The connection to microplastics is significant because microplastics are known to absorb and carry heavy metals like cadmium, potentially increasing our exposure to these toxins and compounding the damage to our gut health.

2024 Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 25 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental nanoplastics induce mitochondrial dysfunction: A review of cellular mechanisms and associated diseases

This review summarizes how nanoplastics, which are small enough to enter individual cells, damage mitochondria (the energy-producing structures inside cells) by disrupting their shape, function, and ability to produce energy. This mitochondrial damage has been linked to a range of diseases including neurodegeneration, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and reproductive problems. The findings help explain why nanoplastic exposure may contribute to multiple chronic health conditions through a common cellular mechanism.

2025 Environmental Pollution 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene Nanoplastics and Cadmium Co-Exposure Accelerates Mitochondrial Autophagy Mediated by HSP60–SIRT3–SOD 2 Signaling Pathway in Primary Duck Embryo Hepatocytes

Scientists found that when tiny plastic particles and the toxic metal cadmium are combined, they cause more damage to liver cells than either pollutant alone. The plastic particles help cadmium get into cells more easily, leading to harmful changes in the cell's powerhouses (mitochondria) and increased cell death. While this study used duck cells, it suggests that the growing presence of microplastics in our environment could make heavy metal pollution more dangerous to human health.

2026 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Article Tier 2

Impact of Micro- and Nanoplastics on Mitochondria

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics can damage mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside cells that are critical for metabolism and cell survival. Researchers found that plastic particle exposure can trigger oxidative stress, disrupt mitochondrial membrane function, and interfere with energy production pathways. Since mitochondrial dysfunction is linked to numerous health conditions, the study suggests this may be a key mechanism through which plastic pollution affects human health.

2022 Metabolites 101 citations
Article Tier 2

New Evidence for the Mechanisms of Nanoplastics Amplifying Cadmium Cytotoxicity: Trojan Horse Effect, Inflammatory Response, and Calcium Imbalance

Researchers discovered that nanoplastics act as a "Trojan horse" by carrying cadmium (a toxic heavy metal) into liver cells and then releasing it inside, amplifying cadmium's toxicity by over 23%. The combined exposure triggered more severe inflammation and cell death than either pollutant alone, demonstrating how nanoplastics can make other environmental contaminants more dangerous to human health.

2025 Environmental Science & Technology 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Cadmium disrupts hepatic lipid homeostasis: molecular mechanisms, unresolved controversies, and therapeutic strategies

This review systematically examined how cadmium accumulates in the liver and disrupts hepatic lipid metabolism, covering mechanisms including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and lipid droplet accumulation. The authors also reviewed therapeutic strategies and identify persistent knowledge gaps in cadmium hepatotoxicology.

2025 iScience
Article Tier 2

Research on the Mechanisms of Plant Enrichment and Detoxification of Cadmium

This review examines how plants absorb, transport, and accumulate the heavy metal cadmium from contaminated soil, as well as the detoxification mechanisms plants use to cope with cadmium stress. While focused on cadmium rather than microplastics, the research is relevant because microplastics in soil can alter cadmium mobility and uptake by crops, potentially affecting food safety.

2021 Biology 93 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of cadmium on oxidative stress and cell apoptosis in Drosophila melanogaster larvae

Researchers exposed fruit fly larvae to increasing doses of cadmium — a heavy metal pollutant — and found rising levels of DNA damage, oxidative stress (cell-damaging reactive oxygen), and activation of cell death genes, even at lower concentrations. The findings add to evidence that heavy metal contamination, which often accompanies plastic pollution in the environment, causes serious genetic and cellular harm to developing organisms.

2022 Scientific Reports 50 citations
Article Tier 2

Maternal Exposureto Combined Cadmium and PolystyreneNanoplastics Induces Offspring Testicular Dysplasia via MitochondrialReactive Oxygen Species Overactivating the Peroxisome Proliferator-ActivatedReceptor α‑Mediated Autophagy Signaling Pathway

Maternal exposure to combined polystyrene nanoplastics and cadmium during pregnancy caused testicular dysplasia in offspring via mitochondrial reactive oxygen species overactivating the PPARα-mediated autophagy pathway, with combined exposure more harmful than either alone.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Micro-/nano-plastics as vectors of heavy metals and stress response of ciliates using transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses

This study examined how polystyrene microplastics and nanoplastics interact with cadmium to affect single-celled marine organisms called ciliates. The combined exposure was more toxic than either pollutant alone, disrupting the organisms' metabolism and stress responses at the genetic level. The findings demonstrate that microplastics can make heavy metal pollution worse by carrying metals into cells, a concern for marine food web contamination that could ultimately affect seafood safety.

2024 Environmental Pollution 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing micro and nanoplastics toxicity using rodent models: Investigating potential mitochondrial implications

This review examines recent rodent studies investigating how micro- and nanoplastics affect cellular health, with a focus on potential mitochondrial impacts. Researchers found that while no study has directly targeted mitochondrial effects, several reported molecular and biochemical changes consistent with disrupted mitochondrial function, including oxidative stress. The study suggests that mitochondria may be an important but understudied target of micro- and nanoplastic toxicity.

2023 Toxicology 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics and Human Health: Hazard Identification and Biointerface

This review covers what we know about nanoplastics and their potential effects on human health, including how they enter the body and what happens when they get inside cells. Nanoplastics can penetrate cell membranes and damage internal structures like mitochondria, which are responsible for producing energy in cells. The review also discusses strategies to reduce nanoplastic levels in the environment to protect human health.

2022 Nanomaterials 233 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics/nanoplastics contribute to aging and age-related diseases: Mitochondrial dysfunction as a crucial role

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics may contribute to aging and age-related conditions by damaging mitochondria, the energy-producing structures inside cells. Researchers describe how these tiny plastic particles enter the body through food, water, and air, and accumulate in various organs where they can disrupt normal mitochondrial function. The study suggests that microplastic-driven mitochondrial damage could be an underappreciated factor in the aging process and related health decline.

2025 Food and Chemical Toxicology 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of metal-based nanoparticles: Challenges in the nano era

This review covers the toxic effects of metal-based nanoparticles on human health, including how they cause oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and organ dysfunction. While focused on engineered nanoparticles rather than microplastics directly, the toxicity pathways described overlap significantly with those triggered by nanoplastic exposure. Understanding these shared mechanisms helps explain how nano-scale particles of any kind, including nanoplastics, may harm the body.

2022 Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 286 citations
Article Tier 2

New molecular mechanism of nanoplastics affecting cadmium protein toxicity: Conformational response and differential binding of human serum albumin

Researchers showed that cadmium alone disrupts the structure and transport function of human serum albumin (the blood's main protein carrier), and that co-exposure with nanoplastics — which form a protein corona by binding albumin to their surface — further exacerbates these structural disruptions and enzyme activity losses, raising concerns about combined nanoplastic-heavy metal toxicity.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 15 citations
Article Tier 2

PVC nanoplastics impair cardiac function via lysosomal and mitochondrial dysfunction

Researchers found that PVC nanoplastics damaged heart cells by disrupting two critical cellular structures: lysosomes (the cell's recycling system) and mitochondria (the cell's energy producers). The nanoplastics caused lysosomes to become leaky and mitochondria to malfunction, leading to heart cell injury and impaired cardiac function. This study is concerning because PVC is one of the most common plastics, and the findings suggest that nanoplastic exposure could contribute to heart disease.

2025 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 7 citations