3.3.4. MPs Accumulation in Organisms and Their Potential Impact

Contributed keywords can be found in cluster blue in Figure 4 and cluster blue and yellow in Figure 5, including ingestion, biomarkers, mussel, fish, seafood, trophic transfer, food web, toxicity, human health, etc.

MPs have been detected in many wild aquatic organisms, such as beaked whale [53], lobster [60], crab [61], fish [62,63], bivalves [64–66], and zooplankton [52,67,68]. Laboratory experiments have shown that MPs can cause some physical harm to a diverse array of organisms upon ingestion [8]. Additional threats of MPs are their capacity to leach toxic additives such as monomers and plasticizers, and to be potential vectors for hydrophobic POPs, which may cause further health problems, such as endocrine disruption and even carcinogenesis to organisms upon ingestion [69]. To quantify the exposure risk from ingested MPs and to evaluate theirpotential eco-toxicological risk, scientists have studied the survival rate [70,71], growth [72], reproductive status [73,74] and gene expression [75] of target species. As biomarkers are useful indicators of exposure, they should be used to identify ecologically significant effects of MPs on sentinel species.

In recent years, the global presence of MPs and nanoplastics in foodstuff, drinking water, and air samples has been well documented. Consequently, human exposure to MPs via ingestion and inhalationis inevitable. Initial concern about human exposure to MPs focused on ingestion of MPs contaminated aquatic organisms. Evidence has shown that the consumption of entirely consumed organisms such as oysters and mussels may pose a higher risk of MPs exposure than consumption of eviscerated ones [76]. Other sources of human exposure to MPs include commercial salt and bottled drinks, as well as airborne MPs that can be inhaled [77]. Although MPs have been detected in human stool samples [78], nanoplastics reportedly might decrease the viability of human Caco-2 cells [79], and they can induce pro-inflammatory responses [80]—adverse effects of MPs on human health have not been reported to date. Thus, studies of the effects of MPs on human health are still urgently needed.
