Rafa Nazifa, Ahmed Bushra, Zohora Fatema, Bakya Jannatul, Ahmed Samiya, Ahmed Shams Forruque, Mofijur M, Chowdhury Ashfaque Ahmed, Almomani Fares
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, United Kingdom.
Science and Math Program, Asian University for Women, Chattogram 4000, Bangladesh.
Environ Pollut. 2024 Feb 15;343:123190. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123190. Epub 2023 Dec 23.
Microplastic pollution has emerged as a new environmental concern due to our reliance on plastic. Recent years have seen an upward trend in scholarly interest in the topic of microplastics carrying contaminants; however, the available review studies have largely focused on specific aspects of this issue, such as sorption, transport, and toxicological effects. Consequently, this review synthesizes the state-of-the-art knowledge on these topics by presenting key findings to guide better policy action toward microplastic management. Microplastics have been reported to absorb pollutants such as persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, and antibiotics, leading to their bioaccumulation in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Hydrophobic interactions are found to be the predominant sorption mechanism, especially for organic pollutants, although electrostatic forces, van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, and pi-pi interactions are also noteworthy. This review reveals that physicochemical properties of microplastics, such as size, structure, and functional groups, and environmental compartment properties, such as pH, temperature, and salinity, influence the sorption of pollutants by microplastic. It has been found that microplastics influence the growth and metabolism of organisms. Inadequate methods for collection and analysis of environmental samples, lack of replication of real-world settings in laboratories, and a lack of understanding of the sorption mechanism and toxicity of microplastics impede current microplastic research. Therefore, future research should focus on filling in these knowledge gaps.
由于我们对塑料的依赖，微塑料污染已成为一个新的环境问题。近年来，学术界对微塑料携带污染物这一主题的兴趣呈上升趋势；然而，现有的综述研究大多集中在该问题的特定方面，如吸附、迁移和毒理学效应。因此，本综述通过呈现关键发现来综合这些主题的最新知识，以指导针对微塑料管理采取更好的政策行动。据报道，微塑料会吸附持久性有机污染物、重金属和抗生素等污染物，导致它们在海洋和陆地生态系统中生物累积。疏水相互作用被发现是主要的吸附机制，特别是对于有机污染物，不过静电力、范德华力、氢键和π-π相互作用也值得关注。本综述表明，微塑料的物理化学性质，如尺寸、结构和官能团，以及环境介质性质，如pH值、温度和盐度，会影响微塑料对污染物的吸附。研究发现微塑料会影响生物体的生长和代谢。环境样品收集和分析方法不足、实验室缺乏对真实环境的模拟以及对微塑料吸附机制和毒性缺乏了解，阻碍了当前的微塑料研究。因此，未来的研究应专注于填补这些知识空白。
