Environmental Processes and Toxicological Effects of Micro- and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environments

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to discuss the environmental processes of micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic environments and to emphasize their toxicological effects induced in animals or plants. As an emerging contaminant, the environmental behavior and biotoxicity of micro- and nanoplastics have received extensive attention from the scientific community. After entering the aquatic environment, the surface physicochemical properties of plastic particles may be altered and influence their environmental fate, such as sedimentation and resuspension, adsorption and desorption of contaminants, release of additives, aging and degradation, and biological uptake and translocation. More importantly, once micro- and nanoplastics are ingested by organisms, they can be assimilated, translocated, and stored in cell tissues. This inevitably induces toxicological responses at the physiological, metabolic, protein, and genetic levels in the animals or plants, as well as being regulated by species, particle properties, exposure time, and dose. Notably, they are also translocated into the food chain and accumulate at higher trophic levels of organisms, resulting in potential biomagnification effects. Therefore, the environmental behavior and toxic effects of micro- and nanoplastics in the aquatic environment urgently need to be identified.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and review articles are welcomed. The scope of research areas may include (but is not limited to) the following:

• Sources and distribution of micro- and nanoplastics;
• Environmental behavior and processes;
• Adsorption, transformation, and bioaccumulation;
• Toxicological effects and regulation;
• Physiological and stress responses;
• Metabolomics, proteomics, and genomics;
• Ecotoxicity and risk prediction.

Prof. Dr. Xue Bai
Dr. Yang Song
Dr. Wenke Yuan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• micro- and nanoplastics
• transformation
• environmental processes
• toxicological effects
• physiological reactions
• oxidative stress
• ecological risks