![]() There is voluminous literature available on the sorption ability of MP. Most of the additives added to the plastic during processing are of small molecular size and often not chemically bound to the polymeric materials, which make them susceptible to leaching into the surrounding environment. Over 4000 chemicals are currently used in the plastic food packaging industry itself, and can provide a scale of the chemical toxicity they can induce. The plastic additives, dyes, and pigments could lead to reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity, and mutagenicity. Inhaled or ingested finer MPs are believed to be able to translocate to the circulatory system and other organs. Ī study reported that microplastics deposition is more likely to occur in the upper airway tract (i.e., nose, mouth, throat) and can reach the gut when swallowed. Two recent reviews have highlighted the potential effects on human health. Several health issues were reported, including reduced lung capacity in work-related conditions, coughing, and breathlessness. Some studies reported that fibrous MPs up to 250 µm in size avert the lung’s clearance mechanisms. Ī few studies on airborne microplastics gained more attention when they suggested human health risks due to MP inhalation, most importantly, the respirable (PM 10) and inhalable (PM 2.5) fractions that can reach deep in the lungs and may be taken up by both macrophages and epithelial cells. Considering the lower size cutoff for microplastics i.e., 1 µm, the fine MPs have greater potential to be transferred via aerosolization into the human respiratory system. For this reason, it is prudent to look at the finer MPs that can be inhaled. The ecological concern from microplastics emanates from the fact that they can be inhaled by humans and can potentially lead to adverse health effects, such as localized inflammation, genotoxicity, and the development of oxidative stress and cytotoxicity. Aerosols can be a significant pathway for transferring MPs to humans via inhalation. ![]() The presence of microplastics in the air has been related to release from clothing, furnishings, synthetic tires, and degraded plastics, among other causes. In contrast, research on MP in aerosols remains less explored, with less than two dozen studies on outdoor air and only a few on indoor air. Several thousand publications on MP in the aquatic environment have been published since 2004, when the term was first introduced. The persistent nature and omnipresence of microplastic (MP) in the aquatic environment has attracted massive attention from the scientific community. These datasets represent the first baseline information for Kuwait, and the smaller MPs in all the samples further underscore the need to develop standardized protocols of MP collection in the ≤2.5 µm fraction that can have more conspicuous health implications. The shape was dominantly fibers, with few fragments in lower size fractions. The presence/absence of carpets had no significant effect on the MP concentrations (total: F 1,19 = 4.08, p = 0.06 inhalable: F 1,19 = 3.03, p = 0.10 respirable: F 1,19 = 4.27, p = 0.05). For the total number of MPs and the inhalable fraction, the concentration was significantly higher for the split unit air-conditioning as compared to the central air-conditioning plants. A significant effect of the type of air conditioning used was also observed for the total number of MPs (F 2,19 = 5.58, p = 0.01) and the inhalable fraction (F 2,19 = 6.45, p = 0.008), while location had no effect on the respirable fraction (F 2,19 = 1.30, p = 0.30). A significant effect of location was observed for the total number of MPs (F 2,14 = 5.80, p = 0.02) and the inhalable fraction (F 2,14 = 8.38, p = 0.005), while location had no effect on the respirable fraction (F 2,14 = 0.54, p = 0.60). The MP concentration in the indoor air varied between 3.2 and 27.1 particles m −3, and the relative MP concentration decreased linearly from the lowest to the highest size fraction. This paper presents a unique dataset where smaller MPs have been sampled using a six-stage cascade impactor from indoor environments in Kuwait. The omnipresence of microplastic (MP) in various environmental samples, including aerosols, has raised public health concerns however, there is presently very limited information on MPs in indoor aerosol.
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