Plastics and plastic additives as inducers of oxidative stress

Transgenerational effects on development following microplastic exposure in Drosophila melanogaster

“…The changes to smaller size and shorter life cycles in the F2 generation could be due to many potential factors such as an epigenetic effect in the F1 which affects the F2, or a condition effect in the mothers, such as physiological toxicity caused by physical effects (for example mechanical damage to the gut of the mother) or chemical toxicity, that affects offspring development. Plastic particles are known to cause oxidative stress (reviewed in Pérez-Albaladejo, Solé & Porte, 2020 ), neurotoxicity (reviewed in ( Prüst, Meijer & Westerink, 2020 )) and developmental toxicity in other animals ( Martínez-Gómez et al, 2017 ; Messinetti et al, 2018 ; Rendell-Bhatti et al, 2020 ), as well as reduced gut function ( Wright et al, 2013 ), which may have a negative knock on effect in subsequent generations. In favour of this hypothesis, we saw that the offspring of flies with the higher dose of plastics (4% PVC), which also are known to contain harmful chemicals ( Rendell-Bhatti et al, 2020 ), were the ones showing both the strongest changes in their life cycles, with shorter larval and pupal stages, and the greatest reduction in body size.…”

Assessment of Daily Exposure to Organophosphate Esters through PM2.5 Inhalation, Dust Ingestion, and Dermal Contact

“…Plastics are formed essentially by polymers, in most cases derived from fossil fuels, but many other chemical compounds are added to modify physical or chemical properties of the final product. By now, there are more than 3000 different additive substances associated with plastics, and some of those are not only known to be toxic to human health but can be persistent and bioaccumulated. − Of all these additives, it is plasticizers that are added in the highest proportion (10–70% w/w), followed by flame retardants (FRs) (3–5% w/w). Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are compounds that are used for both of these purposes and for this reason are ubiquitously present as pollutants in modern society …”

Microplastics released from food containers can suppress lysosomal activity in mouse macrophages

“…Most relevant studies have focused on the ingestion of microplastics by aquatic organisms and have theoretically extrapolated that these ingested microplastics eventually reached the human gut through the food chain ( Ivar do Sul and Costa, 2014 ). Recently, translocation and the associated accumulation of microplastics in mammalian cells have been closely linked to cytotoxicity induced chronic inflammation and negative oxidative stress resulted carcinogenesis in human ( Banerjee and Shelver, 2021 , Choi et al, 2020 , Stock et al, 2021 , Pérez-Albaladejo et al, 2020 , Hwang et al, 2020 ). Such systemic infiltration of microplastics into the human body highlights the urgent need to identify and analyze the sources of plastic-derived contaminants.…”