Effects of micro and nano plastics on renal health

Table 1 Summary of experimental evidence on microplastic-induced renal effects

Model	Particle type/size	Dose/duration	Main findings	Ref.
Mouse	PS, 5-20 μm	0.5 mg/kg/day, 4 weeks	Kidney accumulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, ROS increase	Deng et al[20], 2017
Rat (juvenile)	PS, 1 μm	2 mg/kg/day, 28 days	Tubular damage, ER stress, inflammation increase	Wang et al[21], 2022
HK-2 cells	PS, 0.1-1 μm	10-100 μg/mL, 24-48 hours	Mitochondrial ROS, ER stress, autophagy increase	Tan et al[6], 2025
HK-2 + Cd	PS, 5 μm	Cd 50 mg/L + MPs 10 mg/L, 3 months	Exacerbated nephrotoxicity, fibrosis increase	Zou et al[22], 2022
HD/PD fluids	Mixed polymers	-	MPs detected in all samples, chronic exposure risk	Kara et al[5], 2025

PS: Polystyrene; ROS: Reactive oxygen species; ER: Endoplasmic reticulum; HK-2: Human kidney 2; Cd: Cadmium; MPs: Microplastics; HD: Hemodialysis; PD: Peritoneal dialysis.