Potential lifetime effects caused by cellular uptake of nanoplastics: A review

Plastics have been used for about 100 years, and daily-use products composed of plastics are now prevalent. As a result, humans are very easily exposed to the plastic particles generated from the daily-use plastics. However, studies on cellular uptake of nanoplastics in “human cells” have only recen...

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Published in:Environmental pollution (1987) 2023-07, Vol.329, p.121668-121668, Article 121668
Main Authors: Lee, Yoojin, Cho, Seongeun, Park, Kyungtae, Kim, Taihyun, Kim, Jiyu, Ryu, Du-Yeol, Hong, Jinkee
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cellular uptake
Daily-use products
Factors
Fragmentation
Human health risks
Humans
Microplastics - toxicity
Nanoplastics
Plastics - toxicity
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity
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Summary:Plastics have been used for about 100 years, and daily-use products composed of plastics are now prevalent. As a result, humans are very easily exposed to the plastic particles generated from the daily-use plastics. However, studies on cellular uptake of nanoplastics in “human cells” have only recently begun to attract attention. In previous studies, definitions of nanoplastics and microplastics were vague, but recently, they have been considered to be different and are being studied separately. However, nanoplastics, unlike plastic particles of other sizes such as macro- and microplastics, can be absorbed by human cells, and thus can cause various risks such as cytotoxicity, inflammation, oxidative stress, and even diseases such as cancer82, 83. and diabetes (Fan et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2023). Thus, in this review, we defined microplastics and nanoplastics to be different and described the potential risks of nanoplastics to human caused by cellular uptake according to their diverse factors. In addition, during and following plastic product usage a substantial number of fragments of different sizes can be generated, including nanoplastics. Fragmentation of microplastics into nanoplastics may also occur during ingestion and inhalation, which can potentially cause long-term hazards to human health. However, there are still few in vivo studies conducted on the health effect of nanoplastics ingestion and inhalation. [Display omitted] •Continuous exposure of microplastics may pose health risk through cellular uptake.•Nanoplastics can be readily generated by the in vivo fragmentation of microplastics.•The cellular uptake mechanism of the diverse factors of nanoplastics is reviewed.•Studies on the nanoplastics are still insufficient and need to be further explored.
ISSN:0269-7491
1873-6424
DOI:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121668