A rapid review and meta-regression analyses of the toxicological impacts of microplastic exposure in human cells
Open accessAbstract
Humans are exposed to microplastics (MPs) daily via ingestion and inhalation. It is not known whether this results in adverse health effects and, if so, at what levels of exposure. Without epidemiological studies, human cell in vitro MP toxicological studies provide an alternative approach to this question. This review systematically synthesised all evidence and estimated thresholds of dose-response relationships. MEDLINE and Web of Science were searched from inception to March 2021 and study quality was rated using a novel risk of bias assessment tool. Seventeen studies were included in the rapid review and eight in the meta-regression. Four biological endpoints displayed MP-associated effects: cytotoxicity, immune response, oxidative stress, barrier attributes, and one did not (genotoxicity). Irregular shape was found to be the only MP characteristic predicting cell death, along with the duration of exposure and MP concentration (μg/mL). Cells showed varying cytotoxic sensitivity to MPs, with Caco-2 cells (human adenocarcinoma cell line) being the most susceptible. Minimum, environmentally-relevant, concentrations of 10 μg/mL (5-200 µm), had an adverse effect on cell viability, and 20 μg/mL (0.4 µm) on cytokine release. This work is the first to quantify thresholds of MPs effects on human cells in the context of risk assessment.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In vitro studies suggest that multiple end points are affected by microplastic particles, including cell viability and immune response.
“In vitro studies suggest that multiple end points are affected by microplastic particles, including cell viability (5 to 200 μm diameter particles at a concentration of 10μg/mL) and immune response (0.4 μm diameter particles at concentrations of 20μg/mL).29”
From Microplastics and Anthropogenic Particles in Recreationally Caught Freshwater Fish from an Urbanized Region of the North American Great Lakes (2024) · cites this paper as [29]
Section 3.10.1 reports reduced cell viability at 10 μg/mL in HDF and HeLa cells, but does not support the claimed 5–200 μm particle range at that concentration. Section 3.6.1 reports altered IL-8 and MCP-1 release after exposure to 0.404 μm particles at 20 μg/mL, supporting the immune-response example. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 118 · Cited by 230
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- OHAT, 2019. Handbook for Conducting a Literature-Based Health Assessment Using OHAT Approach for Systematic Review and Evidence Integration. Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT), US Department of Health and Human Services.
- Rist, S., Hartmann, N.B., 2018. Aquatic ecotoxicity of microplastics and nanoplastics: lessons learned from engineered nanomaterials. Freshwater microplastics. Emerging Environmental Contaminants? The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry 58. Springer, Cham, pp. 25-49.
- Authors
- Danopoulos, E., Twiddy, M., West, R., & Rotchell, J. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Hull (GB)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Danopoulos, Evangelos
- Venue
- Journal of Hazardous Materials
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-04
- Volume
- 427
- Pages
- 127861
- ISSN
- 0304-3894 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3216953068
- Cited by
- 230
- References
- 118
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 30
- FWCI
- 1.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Hazardous Materials (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository@Hull (Worktribe) (University of Hull) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- Repository@Hull (Worktribe) (University of Hull) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- University of Hull
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Keywords
- microplastics, microplastic toxicity, human cell lines, cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, immune response, cytokine production, genotoxicity, cell viability, dose-response threshold, microplastic shape, Caco-2 cells, risk assessment, exposure thresholds
- MeSH terms
- Microplastics, Humans, Plastics, Regression Analysis, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Caco-2 Cells
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
