Microplastic residues in clinical samples: A retrospection on sources, entry routes, detection methods and human toxicity

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) are emerging toxicants which have been detected in varying environments. Despite MPs adverse effects, reports on MPs detection from human clinical samples are only a few. This is due to several reasons such as inefficiency of current MPs detection techniques to detect them from human clinical samples, lack of understanding about the MPs toxicity to human organs and ethical regulations that restricts study with human placental exposure to MPs. This review gives a comprehensive outlook on the major sources MPs sources and routes into human system and their human toxicity mechanisms. Further an in-depth discussion on the significance and limitations of various MPs detection methods is elaborated in the review. Challenges in current research framework for detection of MPs from human clinical samples and the possible future directions in this imperative research domain are also focused in this review.