Fabrication of microplastic and nanoplastic particles and fibres for use in pulmonary toxicity studies
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Micro/nanoplastics (MNPs) are a commonly detected environmental contaminant in indoor and outdoor environments. Airborne MNPs are of various shapes and sizes, some of which are small enough to reach the deep lung if inhaled. Current research into the toxicity of airborne MNPs in the lung has only involved a small number of polymers and shapes due to their limited availability. The most commonly available are polystyrene spheres and to date, these have been used in the majority of studies, though their relevance to environmental MNPs is limited. To address this gap, we aimed to develop a method to fabricate MNPs of three environmentally relevant polymers, producing both micro- and nano-sized particles as well as fibres. Enhancing the consistency and accessibility of test materials will enable researchers to better investigate how size, shape, and polymer type influence lung toxicity, while also reducing variability introduced during fabrication.
Results
We successfully developed methods to fabricate MNPs of polyamide, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate, as microplastics, nanoplastics, and fibres. MNPs were characterized for their chemical purity and size. The size of the fabricated MNPs were found to be of a respirable dimension. As a solvent-based method of preparation was used, leachates from the MNPs were analysed to check for contamination that could cause non-specific toxicity. These were found to have no effect on the metabolic activity of either THP-1 macrophages or transformed type-1 (TT1) epithelial cells.
Conclusions
This work provides pulmonary toxicologists with a method for the fabrication of MNPs and their physical and chemical characteristics. Their characteristics indicate they are a representative test material for experimental systems.
Micro/nanoplastics (MNPs) are a commonly detected environmental contaminant in indoor and outdoor environments. Airborne MNPs are of various shapes and sizes, some of which are small enough to reach the deep lung if inhaled. Current research into the toxicity of airborne MNPs in the lung has only involved a small number of polymers and shapes due to their limited availability. The most commonly available are polystyrene spheres and to date, these have been used in the majority of studies, though their relevance to environmental MNPs is limited. To address this gap, we aimed to develop a method to fabricate MNPs of three environmentally relevant polymers, producing both micro- and nano-sized particles as well as fibres. Enhancing the consistency and accessibility of test materials will enable researchers to better investigate how size, shape, and polymer type influence lung toxicity, while also reducing variability introduced during fabrication.
Results
We successfully developed methods to fabricate MNPs of polyamide, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate, as microplastics, nanoplastics, and fibres. MNPs were characterized for their chemical purity and size. The size of the fabricated MNPs were found to be of a respirable dimension. As a solvent-based method of preparation was used, leachates from the MNPs were analysed to check for contamination that could cause non-specific toxicity. These were found to have no effect on the metabolic activity of either THP-1 macrophages or transformed type-1 (TT1) epithelial cells.
Conclusions
This work provides pulmonary toxicologists with a method for the fabrication of MNPs and their physical and chemical characteristics. Their characteristics indicate they are a representative test material for experimental systems.
Date Issued
2025-11-06
Date Acceptance
2025-09-05
Citation
Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 2025, 22
ISSN
1743-8977
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
Particle and Fibre Toxicology
Volume
22
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1186/s12989-025-00641-w
Subjects
Microplastics
Nanoplastics
Test materials
Microplastic fibres
Hazard assessment
Pulmonary toxicology
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
30