A multimodal imaging platform with Raman spectroscopy to disentangle the health risks of nanoplastic

微小的塑料颗粒和纤维(微塑料)源于塑料材料的降解和磨损，是空气、饮用水、食品和土壤中广泛存在的污染物。塑料有可能释放出更小的颗粒--比一毫米(纳米塑料)小1000到10万倍--但由于缺乏能够进行此类测量的可用技术，这一点在环境中尚未得到证实。纳米塑料被认为比微塑料对公共健康的威胁更大，因为它可以进入细胞并造成毒性。此外，纳米塑料在沉降前在空气和水中的寿命更长，因此容易受到长距离运输的影响，可能会在全球范围内运输。然而，我们不知道它是否会发生以及发生了多少，也不知道它在环境和生物背景下能做什么。我们无法理解我们无法衡量的东西。这项提议旨在提高英国的分析能力，通过收购高度专业化的成像和显微镜平台，实现对纳米塑料颗粒的检测和表征。这将通过两种类型的集成显微镜来实现，原子力显微镜和扫描近场光学显微镜。这种平台还将改进样品中微塑料和纳米塑料的检测，方法是通过不同类型的光学显微镜利用塑料的特定属性来突出潜在的微塑料和纳米塑料，从而为进一步分析提供捷径。在欧洲，只有少数几个平台集成了所有这些能力，没有一个平台用于微塑料和纳米塑料的应用。这将用于回答有关纳米塑料在空气、人体组织、实验细胞模型中的普及率、类型和毒性，以及污染物、微生物、细胞和微塑料和纳米塑料之间的相互作用的科学问题。该平台上产生的数据将通过指示针对创新解决方案和政策的问题塑料来影响行业和政府。随着塑料生产的持续进行，微塑料和纳米塑料的污染水平预计将会增加。因此，至关重要的是开始填补我们在了解对健康的影响方面的巨大空白。

Microscopic plastic particles and fibres ('microplastic'), originating from the degradation and wear of plastic materials, are a widespread pollutant in air, drinking water, food, and soils. There is potential for plastic to release even smaller particles - 1000 to 100,000 times smaller than a millimetre ('nanoplastic') - but this has not been confirmed in the environment due to a lack of available technology capable of such measurements. Nanoplastic is believed to be a greater public health threat than microplastic because it can enter cells and cause toxicity. Furthermore, nanoplastic will have longer lifetimes in air and water, before settling, and is therefore susceptible to long range transport, potentially around the globe. However, we have no idea on whether and how much occurs, or what it can do in environmental and biological contexts. We cannot understand what we cannot measure. This proposal aims to advance the analytical capacity in the UK, enabling the detection and characterisation of nanoplastic particles through the acquisition of a highly specialised imaging and microscopy platform. This will be achieved by two types of integrated microscopies, Atomic Force and Scanning Nearfield Optical Microscopy. Such a platform will also improve the detection of micro- and nanoplastic in samples, by exploiting plastic-specific properties through different types of light microscopy to highlight potential micro- and nanoplastic, thereby shortcutting where to direct further analysis. There are only a few platforms in Europe which integrate all these capabilities, none for the application of micro- and nanoplastics. This will be used to answer scientific questions on the prevalence, types, and toxicity of nanoplastics in air, human tissues, experimental cell models, and on the interactions between contaminants, microbes, cells, and micro- and nanoplastic. The data generated on the platform will impact industry and government, by indicating problem plastics for targeting innovative solutions and policy. The level of micro- and nanoplastic pollution is predicted to increase as plastic production continues to do so. It is therefore critical to start filling the huge gaps in our understanding of the impacts on health.