Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Micro (nano) plastics in wastewater: A critical review on toxicity risk assessment, behaviour, environmental impact and challenges

Researchers reviewed the sources, detection methods, toxicity, environmental fate, and wastewater treatment options for micro- and nanoplastics, finding that nanoplastics are especially persistent and toxic due to their large surface area and ability to carry co-pollutants, and identifying key research gaps in quantification, degradation mechanisms, and sensor development.

2021 Chemosphere 103 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Micro(nano)plastics as a vector of pharmaceuticals in aquatic ecosystem: Historical review and future trends

This systematic review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics in water can absorb and carry pharmaceutical drugs, creating a combined pollution threat. When medications attach to tiny plastic particles in rivers and oceans, they may become more harmful to aquatic life and potentially to humans who consume contaminated seafood or water. The research traces how this emerging double-threat has grown since 2018 and identifies key knowledge gaps.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Nanoplastics as Emerging Modifiers of Human Drug Pharmacokinetics: Implications for Adme and Therapeutic Outcomes

**TLDR:** This review of existing research found that tiny plastic particles we're exposed to from the environment might interfere with how medications work in our bodies. These microplastics and nanoplastics can potentially make some drugs less effective or change how they're absorbed, which could be especially risky for critical medications like blood thinners and seizure drugs. While scientists need more human studies to fully understand the impact, this suggests our plastic pollution problem might also be affecting how well our medicines work.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

A critical viewpoint on current issues, limitations, and future research needs on micro- and nanoplastic studies: From the detection to the toxicological assessment.

This critical review examines the current methods for detecting and characterizing micro- and nanoplastics in various environmental samples, as well as reported toxic effects from in vivo and in vitro studies. The authors found that while substantial effort has been made to understand microplastic behavior, the scientific community is still far from a complete understanding of how these particles behave in biological systems. The review calls for improved standardized protocols and more studies focused on uptake kinetics, accumulation, and biodistribution.

2019 Environmental Research 163 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro‐ and Nano‐Plastic Pollution

Researchers review the growing global threat of micro- and nanoplastics — plastic particles ranging from 0.1mm down to 100 nanometers — exploring how they bind to toxic chemicals as they travel through the environment and how emerging photocatalytic technologies using sunlight could offer sustainable new ways to break them down.

2025
Article Tier 2

Leveraging nanoparticle environmental health and safety research in the study of micro- and nano-plastics

Researchers argue that two decades of research on the environmental health and safety of engineered nanomaterials provides a strong foundation for studying micro- and nanoplastics. They outline how lessons from nano-safety research apply to understanding plastic particle toxicity, bioaccumulation, trophic transfer, and environmental behavior. The study emphasizes that existing tools and methodologies from nanotoxicology can accelerate progress in assessing the risks of particulate plastic pollution.

2024 NanoImpact 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancements in environmental nanoplastics research

This review synthesises advances in environmental nanoplastics research, discussing distinctions between nanoplastics and microplastics in physicochemical properties, limitations in current analytical methods for environmental samples, and gaps between laboratory exposure studies and real-world concentrations. The authors highlight emerging evidence of nanoplastics in human organs and excretions and argue that methodological breakthroughs will usher in a 'nano era' of plastic pollution research.

2025 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version)
Article Tier 2

Biodegradable Nanoplastic: a Tool for Drug Delivery and Environmental Challenge

This review discusses the dual nature of biodegradable nanoplastics — their promise as targeted drug delivery vehicles due to their controllable surface chemistry, versus the environmental concern of uncontrolled nanoplastic accumulation from biodegradable polymer degradation in ecosystems.

2025 Journal of Biological Research - Bollettino della Società Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale
Article Tier 2

Determination of the pharmaceuticals–nano/microplastics in aquatic systems by analytical and instrumental methods

Researchers reviewed analytical and instrumental methods for detecting pharmaceutical compounds associated with nano- and microplastic particles in aquatic systems. They examined how pharmaceuticals bind to plastic particles and the combined environmental risks these mixtures pose to water sources and marine life. The study identifies gaps in current detection capabilities and calls for improved methods to assess the combined impact of these co-occurring pollutants.

2022 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of Microplastic Contaminants on Drug Stability and Safety

Researchers reviewed how microplastic contaminants may alter the stability, bioavailability, and safety of pharmaceutical products by adsorbing drug compounds and releasing them unpredictably. Survey data from pharmaceutical quality assurance professionals and literature synthesis identified specific mechanisms by which MPs could degrade drug formulations, flagging an underexplored drug safety concern.

2025 International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences
Article Tier 2

Interactive effects of micro/nanoplastics and nanomaterials/pharmaceuticals: Their ecotoxicological consequences in the aquatic systems

Researchers reviewed how micro- and nanoplastics interact with co-occurring nanomaterials and pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments, finding that plastics act as vectors that can either amplify or attenuate the bioavailability and toxicity of these contaminants depending on species, trophic level, and environmental conditions.

2021 Aquatic Toxicology 61 citations
Article Tier 2

Nano-plastics and their analytical characterisation and fate in the marine environment: From source to sea

Researchers reviewed the sources, environmental fate, organism interactions, and analytical detection methods for nano-sized plastic polymers in the marine environment, concluding that nanoplastics pose the greatest ecological risk among plastic size fractions and that standardized analytical protocols for nanoplastic characterization are urgently needed.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 142 citations
Article Tier 2

Current hurdles to the translation of nanomedicines from bench to the clinic

This review examines the challenges of translating nanomedicine research from the lab to approved medical treatments, focusing on regulatory hurdles and manufacturing consistency. While not directly about microplastics, the review is relevant because the same nanoparticle characterization methods and safety testing frameworks apply to understanding how nanoplastics behave in the human body. Lessons from nanomedicine development can help researchers better assess the health risks of nanoplastic exposure.

2021 Drug Delivery and Translational Research 434 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors of pharmaceuticals in aquatic organisms – An overview of their environmental implications

Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as "vectors" for pharmaceutical contaminants in aquatic environments, absorbing drugs onto their surfaces and then releasing them inside organisms after ingestion — potentially amplifying the toxicity of pharmaceuticals throughout the food web.

2021 Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering 100 citations
Article Tier 2

Global challenges in microplastics: From fundamental understanding to advanced degradations toward sustainable strategies

This review examined global challenges in microplastic research — from environmental entry pathways and fate to human health impacts — and discussed potential degradation strategies, concluding that a combination of photocatalysis, biodegradation, and policy measures will be needed for sustainable management.

2020 Chemosphere 101 citations
Article Tier 2

Critical gaps in nanoplastics research and their connection to risk assessment

This paper identifies critical knowledge gaps in nanoplastics research and explains why they matter for assessing health and environmental risks. Nanoplastics are harder to detect and measure than larger microplastics, meaning current pollution estimates likely undercount total plastic contamination. The authors call for better detection methods and standardized research approaches to understand the true scope of nanoplastic exposure.

2023 Frontiers in Toxicology 56 citations
Article Tier 2

Methodologies to characterize, identify and quantify nano- and sub-micron sized plastics in relevant media for human exposure: a critical review

This review critically evaluated methodologies for characterizing, identifying, and quantifying nano- and sub-micron sized plastics in media relevant to human exposure, highlighting analytical gaps and the need for standardized approaches.

2022 Environmental Science Advances 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Screening and prioritization of nano- and microplastic particle toxicity studies for evaluating human health risks – development and application of a toxicity study assessment tool

Researchers developed a standardized tool to screen and rank toxicity studies on nano- and microplastics by quality and relevance, addressing a critical gap in how scientists evaluate which studies should inform human health risk assessments for these widespread plastic pollutants.

2022 Microplastics and Nanoplastics 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Current research trends on micro- and nano-plastics as an emerging threat to global environment: A review.

This review summarizes the current knowledge on micro- and nanoplastics as emerging global pollutants, covering their distribution across terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric environments, their persistence, and the health risks from their chemical additives. It identifies key research gaps in understanding how MNPs move between environmental compartments and accumulate in living organisms.

2021 Journal of hazardous materials
Article Tier 2

Effects of nanoplastics and microplastics on the availability of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in aqueous environment

Researchers found that nanoplastics and microplastics can sorb pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water, with smaller nanoplastics showing 1-2 orders of magnitude stronger sorption than microplastics, potentially reducing the bioavailability of these contaminants in aquatic environments.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 31 citations
Commentary Tier 3

Editorial: “Unravelling micro-/nano-plastics toxicity profiling: can we link associated effects to intrinsic characteristics?”

This editorial introduces a research topic on linking the intrinsic physicochemical characteristics of micro- and nanoplastics to their observed toxicity profiles, emphasizing the need for novel approaches to bridge data gaps in bioavailability, exposure scenarios, environmental transport, and fate for sound ecological risk assessment.

2025 Frontiers in Toxicology
Article Tier 2

Eco-toxicity of nano-plastics and its implication on human metabolism: Current and future perspective

This review examines the sources, bioaccumulation pathways, and potential health effects of nanoplastics on human metabolism. Researchers found that nanoplastics can enter the body primarily through ingestion of contaminated food and packaging, and evidence suggests they may interfere with metabolic pathways and contribute to organ dysfunction. The study highlights that significant knowledge gaps remain in assessing the human health risks of nanoplastic exposure.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 61 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization, occurrence, environmental behaviors, and risks of nanoplastics in the aquatic environment: Current status and future perspectives

This review characterized the occurrence, environmental behavior, and toxicity of nanoplastics in aquatic systems, noting that their small size gives them unique properties — including higher surface reactivity and greater bioavailability — that make them potentially more hazardous than larger microplastics, while also harder to detect.

2021 Fundamental Research 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro‐ and Nanoplastics—An Invisible Threat to Human Health

This review describes micro- and nanoplastics as an invisible threat to human health, examining how their small size and chemical complexity make them difficult to detect and assess. The authors call for better analytical tools, standardized methods, and expanded epidemiological research.

2024