Papers

61,005 results
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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

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

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

Impacts of Micro/Nanoplastics on Crop Physiology and Soil Ecosystems: A Review

This review synthesized evidence on how micro- and nanoplastics affect crop physiology and soil ecosystems, covering how plastic particles enter plants via roots, disrupt soil microbiota, and impair crop growth through oxidative stress, nutrient cycling disruption, and physical root interference. The authors found that nanoplastics pose greater plant risks than microplastics due to their ability to cross cell membranes.

2025 Soil Systems
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

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
Article Tier 2

Effects of micro(nano)plastics on higher plants and the rhizosphere environment

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics affect higher plants and the soil environment around their roots. Researchers found that these particles can be absorbed through roots and transported to other plant tissues, causing oxidative stress and disrupting photosynthesis, metabolism, and gene expression. The study highlights that plastic pollution in soil threatens not only plant health but also the broader rhizosphere ecosystem that supports agriculture.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 183 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption, uptake and toxicity of micro- and nanoplastics: Effects on terrestrial plants and aquatic macrophytes

This review summarizes research on how micro- and nanoplastics interact with terrestrial plants and aquatic macrophytes, finding that many species can absorb or take up plastic particles. Both short-term and long-term plastic exposure triggered stress responses in plants, and since plants are at the base of food chains and a major part of the human diet, there is concern about plastics moving up through the food web. The findings suggest that plastic pollution could potentially affect plant productivity and broader ecosystem function.

2021 Environmental Pollution 218 citations
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

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

Unveiling the impact of microplastics and nanoplastics on vascular plants: A cellular metabolomic and transcriptomic review

This review summarizes how microplastics and nanoplastics affect plant health at the cellular and genetic level, disrupting metabolism, nutrient uptake, and growth in vascular plants. Since contaminated crops are a pathway for microplastics to enter the human diet, understanding how plants absorb and respond to these particles is important for food safety.

2024 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 35 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of microplastics on the biochemistry of plant

This review synthesizes research on the pathways by which microplastics and nanoplastics are taken up and translocated in plant tissues, the biochemical effects on plant development and nutritional quality, and the detection techniques used to study plant-microplastic interactions. The authors identify major knowledge gaps in understanding soil-borne microplastic behavior and its ecological consequences for agricultural systems.

2024 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

Impacts of Plastics on Plant Development: Recent Advances and Future Research Directions

This review summarizes how microplastics and nanoplastics affect plant growth, from blocking seed germination and root development to causing oxidative stress and DNA damage in plant cells. Nanoplastics are small enough to be absorbed by roots and transported to stems, leaves, and even fruits. These findings are concerning for human health because they show that microplastics can enter the food supply through crops, creating a direct pathway for human exposure through plant-based foods.

2023 Plants 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and distribution of micro/nanoplastics in soils and their phytotoxic effects: A review

This review examined how micro- and nanoplastics distribute across different soil types and get taken up by plant roots, finding that smaller, spherical particles are absorbed more easily. Researchers found that these plastic particles accumulate in plants and trigger oxidative stress, which disrupts gene expression and metabolic pathways important for plant growth and biomass production.

2022 Plant Cell & Environment 101 citations
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
Review Tier 2

Unveiling the mechanism of micro-and-nano plastic phytotoxicity on terrestrial plants: A comprehensive review of omics approaches.

This comprehensive review examined how micro-and-nano plastics (MNPs) in terrestrial soils damage plant health by inhibiting water and nutrient uptake, reducing seed germination, impairing photosynthesis, and inducing oxidative stress. The review identified key knowledge gaps in understanding MNP phytotoxicity mechanisms and their implications for food security.

2025 Environment international
Article Tier 2

Uptake and transport of micro/nanoplastics in terrestrial plants: Detection, mechanisms, and influencing factors

This review summarizes how micro and nanoplastics enter and move through plants, including uptake through roots and leaves via processes like endocytosis and movement through cell walls. Smaller particles penetrate more easily, and factors like surface charge and soil conditions affect how much plastic plants absorb. The findings are important because they show that crops can take up microplastics from contaminated soil, creating a potential pathway for these particles to reach the human diet.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 166 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
Article Tier 2

Mechanistic understanding on the uptake of micro-nano plastics by plants and its phytoremediation.

This review summarized the mechanisms by which micro-nano plastics are taken up by plants through roots and leaves, and evaluated the potential for phytoremediation as a strategy to reduce plastic contamination in soil, identifying key plant species and genetic factors that influence uptake.

2024 Environmental science and pollution research international
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

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

Particulate plastics-plant interaction in soil and its implications: A review

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics in soil interact with plants, including uptake through roots, accumulation in plant tissues, and effects on growth, nutrient absorption, and soil microbial communities. The study highlights that these plastic particles can alter soil structure and chemistry in ways that affect crop development, raising concerns about food safety and agricultural productivity.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 93 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 and plant health: a comprehensive review of sources, distribution, toxicity, and remediation

This review summarizes how microplastics enter soil from agricultural films, sewage sludge, textiles, and cosmetics, then get absorbed by plant roots and transported to edible parts, posing risks to food safety. Exposure to microplastics causes oxidative stress, genetic damage, and disrupts photosynthesis in plants, while also carrying heavy metals and pathogens deeper into the food chain.

2025 npj Emerging Contaminants 37 citations