Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Research Advances on the Impact of Environmental Pollutants on Gut Microbiota

This review synthesizes evidence from animal models, human studies, and mechanistic experiments showing how microplastics, pesticides, and heavy metals each disrupt gut microbiota composition, reduce beneficial bacteria, and compromise intestinal barrier integrity and host health.

2025 Theoretical and Natural Science
Article Tier 2

Interactions between environmental pollutants and gut microbiota: A review connecting the conventional heavy metals and the emerging microplastics

This review examines how environmental pollutants, including both heavy metals and microplastics, interact with gut bacteria in humans and animals. The authors found that these pollutants can disrupt the balance of gut microbiota, which may contribute to various health problems, and that gut bacteria can also transform pollutants in ways that change their toxicity.

2025 Environmental Research 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and probiotics: Mechanisms of interaction and their consequences for health

This review explores how microplastics interact with probiotics and what that means for gut health. Researchers summarized evidence showing that microplastics can disrupt the gut lining, alter the microbiome, and trigger inflammation, while certain probiotic strains may help counteract these effects by reducing oxidative stress and supporting the intestinal barrier. The study also discusses the emerging possibility of using engineered probiotics for environmental microplastic cleanup.

2025 AIMS Microbiology 4 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Probiotics as Modulators of Microplastic-induced Toxicity: A Systematic Review

This systematic review found that probiotics can reduce microplastic-induced toxicity in animal models by restoring gut microbiota balance, reducing oxidative stress, and modulating inflammatory responses. The findings suggest that probiotic supplementation may help mitigate the harmful effects of unavoidable microplastic exposure, though human clinical trials are still needed.

2025 Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins
Article Tier 2

Role-Playing Between Environmental Pollutants and Human Gut Microbiota: A Complex Bidirectional Interaction

This review examined the bidirectional relationship between environmental pollutants, including microplastics, and the human gut microbiota, highlighting how toxicants alter microbial communities while gut bacteria can metabolize or modify pollutant toxicity.

2022 Frontiers in Medicine 38 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicological Evaluation of Effects of Some Environmental Pollutants on Intestinal Microbiota: Traditional Review

This review examines how various environmental pollutants affect the gut microbiome — the community of microorganisms in the intestinal tract. Microplastics are among the pollutants discussed, and their ability to alter gut microbiota composition is increasingly recognized as a mechanism by which plastic particles may harm human and animal health.

2023 Journal of Literature Pharmacy Sciences
Article Tier 2

Interactions between gut microbiota and emerging contaminants exposure: new and profound implications for human health

This review explores how emerging contaminants like microplastics, antibiotics, and persistent organic pollutants interact with gut bacteria and what that means for human health. Researchers found that the gut microbiome is a key target of these pollutants and may play a role in organ damage, hormonal disruption, and other toxic effects through pathways like the gut-liver and gut-brain axes. The study underscores the importance of understanding the three-way relationship between environmental contaminants, gut bacteria, and overall health.

2024 Environmental Research Communications 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Oxidized/unmodified-polyethylene microplastics neurotoxicity in mice: Perspective from microbiota-gut-brain axis

Mice exposed to both regular and environmentally weathered polyethylene microplastics developed brain and gut damage, including behavioral changes, weakened gut and blood-brain barriers, and inflammation -- with weathered microplastics causing even more harm. Importantly, treatment with a probiotic (Lactobacillus) and a prebiotic partially reversed these effects, suggesting that gut-friendly supplements might help protect against microplastic-related brain and intestinal damage.

2024 Environment International 64 citations
Article Tier 2

The detrimental effects of micro-and nano-plastics on digestive system: An overview of oxidative stress-related adverse outcome pathway

This review maps out how micro and nanoplastics damage the digestive system, identifying oxidative stress as the initial trigger that leads to inflammation, cell death, disrupted gut bacteria, and metabolic disorders. The authors use an adverse outcome pathway framework to connect molecular-level damage to broader health consequences. The findings suggest that ongoing microplastic exposure through food and water could contribute to digestive health problems.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 52 citations
Article Tier 2

Pollutants, microbiota and immune system: frenemies within the gut

This review summarizes how environmental pollutants, including microplastics, disrupt the gut microbiome and immune system, potentially contributing to inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer. Pollutants reduce beneficial gut bacteria while promoting inflammation, weakening the intestinal barrier, and triggering a chain of events that can push cells toward cancerous growth.

2024 Frontiers in Public Health 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Natural Compounds in the Modulation of the Intestinal Microbiota: Implications in Human Physiology and Pathology

This review examines how natural compounds including polyphenols, fatty acids, and fiber can modulate the gut microbiome and affect human health. While focused on nutrition and gut health rather than microplastics, the gut microbiome is increasingly recognized as a target of microplastic toxicity, making dietary protective factors relevant.

2020 IntechOpen eBooks 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Gut microbiota as an emerging target for the health implications of microplastics

This review examines how microplastic exposure disrupts the gut microbiome, finding evidence that microplastics damage intestinal barrier proteins, promote inflammation and oxidative stress, and may drive systemic effects including neurotoxicity and reproductive toxicity through gut-mediated pathways.

2025 Food Science and Human Wellness
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and human health: unveiling the gut microbiome disruption and chronic disease risks

This review summarizes evidence that microplastics disrupt the gut microbiome, the community of bacteria in our digestive system that plays a key role in immunity, metabolism, and overall health. By altering gut bacteria balance and triggering inflammation, microplastic exposure may contribute to chronic conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic disorders, and potentially even neurological problems through the gut-brain connection.

2024 Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 82 citations
Article Tier 2

Anthocyanins as protectors of gut microbiota: mitigating the adverse effects of microplastic-induced disruption

This review examines how anthocyanins, bioactive compounds found in berries and other pigmented plants, may protect gut microbiota from disruption caused by microplastic exposure. Researchers synthesized evidence suggesting that anthocyanins counteract microplastic-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in the gut. The findings indicate that dietary anthocyanins could serve as a protective factor against the adverse effects of microplastics on digestive health.

2025 Food Innovation and Advances 1 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

Effects of Organohalogenated Xenobiotics on Gut Microbiota, Oxidative Redox, and Reproductive Functions in Pigs – a Review

This review examines how organohalogenated compounds (such as PCBs and flame retardants) in animal feed affect gut microbiota, oxidative stress, and reproductive function in pigs. While focused on livestock health, the findings are relevant to understanding how persistent organic pollutants — which can adsorb onto microplastics — affect digestive and reproductive systems.

2020 Applied Ecology and Environmental Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxic Effects of Xenobiotics on Gut Microbiome and Host Health: A Mini-Review

This mini-review examines how xenobiotics including heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, air pollutants, persistent organic pollutants, and microplastics disrupt the gut microbiome and host health, with implications for developing targeted therapies.

2024 Toxicology International
Article Tier 2

Probiotics an emerging therapeutic approach towards gut-brain-axis oriented chronic health issues induced by microplastics: A comprehensive review

This review examines how microplastics disrupt the gut-brain axis, the communication system between the digestive system and the brain, leading to chronic health problems like inflammation and neurological issues. The authors highlight probiotics as a promising treatment approach, since beneficial bacteria can help repair gut damage caused by microplastic exposure. The findings suggest that supporting gut health through probiotics may help counteract some of the harmful effects of microplastics on both digestion and brain function.

2024 Heliyon 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Mitigating microplastic-induced organ Damage: Mechanistic insights from the microplastic-macrophage axes

This review is the first comprehensive examination of how microplastics interact with macrophages, the immune cells responsible for engulfing and removing foreign particles from the body. When macrophages absorb microplastics, the resulting oxidative stress disrupts their normal function, leading to inflammation and organ damage, with gut bacteria potentially playing a role in this harmful process.

2025 Redox Biology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

The potential influence of food additives and contaminants on the gut microbiota: A comprehensive review

This comprehensive review examines how food additives and contaminants, including pesticides, heavy metals, microplastics, and antibiotics, affect the gut microbiota. Researchers found that these substances can disrupt the balance of gut microbes, leading to inflammation, gastrointestinal injury, and altered production of beneficial short-chain fatty acids. The study emphasizes the need for further research into the mechanisms by which dietary contaminants affect gut health and overall wellbeing.

2025 Food and Chemical Toxicology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Deciphering the Role of the Gut Microbiota in Exposure to Emerging Contaminants and Diabetes: A Review

This review explores the connection between exposure to emerging environmental contaminants, including microplastics and nanoplastics, and disruptions to gut microbiota that may influence glucose metabolism and diabetes risk. Researchers found that these pollutants can alter the composition and function of gut microbial communities through multiple mechanisms. The study suggests that the gut microbiome may be a key pathway through which environmental contaminants affect metabolic health.

2024 Metabolites 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Gut dysbiosis: Nutritional causes and risk prevention in poultry, with reference to other animals

This review examines the causes and consequences of gut dysbiosis in poultry and other animals, identifying microplastics as one of several environmental pollutants that can disrupt gastrointestinal microbial communities. Researchers describe how reduced microbial diversity leads to inflammation, compromised gut barriers, and disorders affecting multiple organ systems. The study highlights that microplastics, along with heavy metals, pesticides, and other contaminants, contribute to the growing challenge of maintaining healthy gut microbiomes in animal populations.

2025 South African Journal of Animal Science 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of micro- and nanoplastics on gastrointestinal diseases: Recent advances

This review summarizes how micro- and nanoplastics can harm the digestive system by causing oxidative stress, inflammation, cell death, and disruption of gut bacteria. These connected pathways can damage the intestinal lining and may contribute to conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. The findings highlight the importance of understanding how everyday plastic exposure through food and water could affect gut health over time.

2025 European Journal of Internal Medicine 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Interaction between microplastics and microorganism as well as gut microbiota: A consideration on environmental animal and human health

This review explores how microplastics interact with microorganisms in the environment and within the gut, examining implications for both animal and human health. Researchers found that microplastics can alter gut microbiota composition, promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and amplify the toxicity of other environmental pollutants. The study suggests that the interaction between microplastics and gut microorganisms is an important emerging area for understanding health risks.

2019 The Science of The Total Environment 405 citations