Potential health impact of environmental micro‐ and nanoplastics pollution

Abstract

Micro‐ and nanoplastics are generated from plastics and have negative impacts on the environment due to their high level of fragmentation. They can originate from various sources such as fragments, fibers and foams. The large proportion of the waste and resistance to degradation means micro‐ and nanoplastics have become a serious global environmental problem, but there are few studies on their potential toxicity for human health. In this review, we discussed routes of exposure and the potential effects of micro‐ and nanoplastics to human health. Human beings could mainly be exposed to micro‐ and nanoplastics orally and by inhalation. The possible toxic effects of plastic particles are due to the potential toxicity of plastics themselves, and their combined toxicity with leachable additives and adsorbed contaminants. The potential risks for human health focused on their gastrointestinal toxicity and liver toxicity. The toxic mechanisms could involve oxidative stress, inflammatory reactions and metabolism disorders. More studies are needed to carry out and explore the potential toxicological mechanisms of micro‐ and nanoplastics and evaluate the combined toxicity of their adsorbed contaminants.

Contributions of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in microplastic pollution research: A review

“…Globally, environmental-vector of MPs have been studied in various marine and freshwater biota, especially in fish, bivalves and birds (Anbumani & Kakkar, 2018;Chang et al, 2020;Du et al, 2020). Several toxicology studies (organismal-vector) including uptake of MPs and associated pollutants have been conducted in laboratories (Browne et al, 2013;Cole et al, 2013;Koelmans et al, 2016).…”

Microplastic Contamination of Seafood Intended for Human Consumption: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Human health effects related to MP exposures, and indeed the levels of MPs in human subjects, are only recently being investigated, but there is a growing body of literature to support evidence of uptake (Abbasi et al 2019;Gallagher et al 2015;Schwabl et al 2019) and detrimental impacts (Dong et al 2020;Gallo et al 2018;Stock et al 2019). Recently reported potential human effects include GI and liver toxicity (Chang et al 2020;W Wang et al 2019) as well as neurotoxicity (Prüst et al 2020). The key identified exposure route is ingestion (along with inhalation) (Chang et al 2020;Hale et al 2020), with seafood being a major medium of exposure (van Raamsdonk et al 2020;YL Wang et al 2020).…”

“…Recently reported potential human effects include GI and liver toxicity (Chang et al 2020;W Wang et al 2019) as well as neurotoxicity (Prüst et al 2020). The key identified exposure route is ingestion (along with inhalation) (Chang et al 2020;Hale et al 2020), with seafood being a major medium of exposure (van Raamsdonk et al 2020;YL Wang et al 2020). Key toxic mechanisms include cytotoxicity via oxidative stress (Chang et al 2020), gene expression alteration and genotoxicity (YL Wang et al 2020) changes to the gut microbiota (van Raamsdonk et al 2020), metabolism disorders, and inflammatory reactions (Chang et al 2020).…”

The impact of polystyrene microplastics on cardiomyocytes pyroptosis through NLRP3/Caspase‐1 signaling pathway and oxidative stress in Wistar rats

“…Plastics can be continuously fragmented into microplastics (MPs) in the environment, 2 which can be measured with a diameter less than 5 mm 3,4 . Moreover, the intake of marine products and drinking water containing MPs are the main ways for human exposure to MPs 5 . Thus, MPs have the potential risk to human health with their persistence throughout all aspects of people's life 6 .…”