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(Micro)plastic Pollution: From Monitoring to Toxicity in All Environments
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(Micro)plastic Pollution: From Monitoring to Toxicity in All Environments

A special issue of Journal of Xenobiotics (ISSN 2039-4713). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecotoxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 4970

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Stefano Magni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biosciences, University of Milan|UNIMI, Milan, Italy
Interests: aquatic ecotoxicology; monitoring; toxicity evaluation; freshwaters; microplastics; biomarkers; proteomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. François Gagné

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Emerging Methods, Aquatic Contaminant Research Division, Environment Canada, 105 McGill, Montréal, QC H2Y 2E7, Canada
Interests: neuro-endocrine disrupters; xenobiotic biotransformation; DNA metabolism; oxidative stress; complex mixtures wastewaters; transcriptomics; metabolomics and metallomics; nanotoxicology and emerging compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to our Special Issue focusing on the impact of (micro)plastics in different ecosystems, such as the air and aquatic, terrestrial and indoor environments.

This Special Issue calls for scientific studies which consider at least one of the following different ecotoxicological aspects related to (micro)plastic pollution:

  • Monitoring in different environmental matrices, including new methods for (micro)plastic sampling, characterization, and quantification;
  • Uptake in biota, including humans;
  • Toxicity at different levels of biological organization—from molecules to populations, from omics to in vivo, and from the laboratory to the field.

Research papers, review articles, methods, and short communications including extended abstracts from conferences or meetings will be considered.

Dr. Stefano Magni
Dr. François Gagné
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. Journal of Xenobiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 1600 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.

Keywords

  • (micro)plastics
  • emerging contaminants
  • monitoring
  • uptake
  • adverse effects
  • biomarkers
  • omics techniques

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 746 KB  
Article
Influence of Pristine and Photoaging Polystyrene Microspheres on Sperm Quality and DNA Integrity of the Sand Dollars Scaphechinus mirabilis
by Andrey Alexandrovich Mazur, Sergey Petrovich Kukla, Victor Pavlovich Chelomin, Valentina Vladimirovna Slobodskova and Nadezhda Vladimirovna Dovzhenko
J. Xenobiot. 2025, 15(6), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/jox15060176 - 23 Oct 2025
Viewed by 370
Abstract
Plastic pollution represents a significant emerging environmental problem. Micro-sized particles of synthetic polymers—microplastics (MPs)—have been identified in all parts of marine ecosystems. In the marine environment, organisms are exposed to MPs, which undergo a constant process of physicochemical and biological degradation. Utilization of [...] Read more.
Plastic pollution represents a significant emerging environmental problem. Micro-sized particles of synthetic polymers—microplastics (MPs)—have been identified in all parts of marine ecosystems. In the marine environment, organisms are exposed to MPs, which undergo a constant process of physicochemical and biological degradation. Utilization of UV irradiation as the optimal exposure factor in the simulation of fundamental natural conditions is a widely accepted approach. This enables the study of the harmful effects of such particles when interacting with aquatic organisms. This study aimed to investigate the effect of pristine and photoaging primary polystyrene microspheres (µPS) at three concentrations on the viability and DNA integrity of the sperm of the sand dollars Scaphechinus mirabilis. The results of the investigation demonstrated that IR spectroscopy revealed structural changes in polystyrene, confirming the oxidative degradation of the polymer under UV irradiation. The study demonstrated that artificially aged µPS exhibited a more pronounced effect than pristine particles, as evidenced by reduced sperm viability and increased DNA damage. Thus, the resazurin test showed that after exposure to UV-irradiated µPS, sperm viability decreased to 83–85% at concentrations of 10 and 100 particles and to 70% at a concentration of 1000. In addition, the Comet assay showed that the particles increased the percentage of DNA in the tail from 20% to 30% in a dose-dependent manner. The findings substantiate and augment the existing body of experimental data of the toxicity of aged plastic fragments, thereby underscoring the need for further study into the toxicity of aged MPs on marine invertebrates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue (Micro)plastic Pollution: From Monitoring to Toxicity in All Environments)
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Review

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23 pages, 919 KB  
Review
Micro- and Nano-Plastics in Drinking Water: Threat or Hype? Critical State-of-the-Art Analysis of Risks and Approaches
by Andrea G. Capodaglio
J. Xenobiot. 2025, 15(3), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/jox15030085 - 3 Jun 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4192
Abstract
Microplastic (MP) contamination affects all environmental media, even in remote, unpopulated regions of the globe. Many studies have addressed this issue under various aspects; however, actual and definitive evidence that MPs are a cause of human health risk in actual environmental conditions has [...] Read more.
Microplastic (MP) contamination affects all environmental media, even in remote, unpopulated regions of the globe. Many studies have addressed this issue under various aspects; however, actual and definitive evidence that MPs are a cause of human health risk in actual environmental conditions has not been provided. MP decomposition generates smaller nanoplastics (NPs) with different properties, closer to engineered nanoparticles than to MP. Their detection is more complex and laborious than MP’s, and, as such, their fate and effects are still poorly studied. Advanced technologies to remove MP/NPs from supply water are being investigated, but current evidence indicates that conventional drinking water treatment facilities efficiently remove a major part of MPs, at least as far as sizes greater than 20 µm. Notwithstanding recent developments in MP/NP classification and detection techniques, at the moment, very few studies specifically address NPs, which, therefore, deserve more targeted investigation. This paper addresses MPs and NPs in drinking water, examining recent current literature on their presence and state-of-the-art in risk assessment and toxicology. The paper also critically overviews treatment technologies for their removal and discusses the present knowledge gap and possible approaches to this widespread issue. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue (Micro)plastic Pollution: From Monitoring to Toxicity in All Environments)
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