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Review
. 2023 Jun;45(6):2803-2838.
doi: 10.1007/s10653-022-01458-8. Epub 2023 Jan 4.

Research advances of microplastics and potential health risks of microplastics on terrestrial higher mammals: a bibliometric analysis and literature review

Manman Liu  1 , Jinyan Liu  1 , Fei Xiong  1 , Kai Xu  1 , Yunqiu Pu  1 , Jiawei Huang  1 , Juan Zhang  1 , Yuepu Pu  1 , Rongli Sun  2 , Keping Cheng  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Research advances of microplastics and potential health risks of microplastics on terrestrial higher mammals: a bibliometric analysis and literature review

Manman Liu et al. Environ Geochem Health. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) have become increasingly serious global problems due to their wide distribution and complicated impacts on living organisms. To obtain a comprehensive overview of the latest research progress on MPs, we conducted a bibliometric analysis combined with a literature review. The results showed that the number of studies on MPs has grown exponentially since 2010. Recently, the hotspot on MPs has shifted to terrestrial ecosystems and biological health risks, including human health risks. In addition, the toxic effects, identification and quantification of MPs are relatively new research hotspots. We subsequently provide a review of MPs studies related to health risks to terrestrial higher mammals and, in particular, to humans, including detection methods and potential toxicities based on current studies. Currently, MPs have been found existing in human feces, blood, colon, placenta and lung, but it is still unclear whether this is associated with related systemic diseases. In vivo and in vitro studies have demonstrated that MPs cause intestinal toxicity, metabolic disruption, reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity through oxidative stress, apoptosis and specific pathways, etc. Notably, in terms of combined effects with pollutants and neurotoxicity, the effects of MPs are still controversial. Future attention should be paid to the detection and quantification of MPs in human tissues, exploring the combined effects and related mechanisms of MPs with other pollutants and clarifying the association between MPs and the development of pre-existing diseases. Our work enhances further understanding of the potential health risks of MPs to terrestrial higher mammals.

Keywords: Bibliometrics; Detection methods; Microplastics; Research trend; Terrestrial higher mammals; Toxicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Research framework of document selection and analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A The temporal trend of publication on MPs research. B Distribution of the top 10 popular fields of MPs research. C Distribution of the top 10 productive countries on MPs research. D Distribution of the top 10 productive institutions on MPs research
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The network visualization map of A countries collaboration and B institutions collaboration on MPs research. The network C and overlay D visualization map of keywords occurrences on MPs research
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The keywords with the strongest citation bursts. (The red line represents the time period when the keywords were found to have a burst)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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