Jadhav and Medynska-Juraszek 2025 — Microplastics as modifiers of heavy metal uptake in lettuce
This controlled pot study examines how different microplastic types alter heavy metal mobility and uptake in lettuce grown in contaminated soil. It is an a3 soil-to-plant-transfer and pathway paper rather than a benchmark occurrence paper because the matrix is experimentally contaminated soil under greenhouse conditions. The paper matters because it shows how co-contaminants such as microplastics can change cadmium and lead behavior in crop systems.
Key numbers
- Microplastics were added at 70-80 mg/kg to contaminated loamy sand from a smelter-impacted area.
- Copper accumulation in leaves fell from 80.84 mg/kg in the control to 26.35 mg/kg under glitter treatment.
- Root lead increased from 12.13 mg/kg to 33.57 mg/kg under fiber exposure.
- Root cadmium increased from 1.70 mg/kg to 2.05 mg/kg under fiber exposure.
- The experiment ran for eight weeks under controlled greenhouse conditions.
Methods (brief)
Lettuce seedlings were grown in contaminated loamy sand amended with four microplastic types: fibers, glitter, plastic bags, and plastic bottles. Roots and shoots were harvested and analyzed for heavy metals using MP-AES and ICP-MS, and soil sequential extraction was used to track changes in metal partitioning.
Evidence Fitness
Strong for a3 pathway evidence and moderate for a1 context only. Because this is a contaminated-soil greenhouse experiment, the measured concentrations should not be treated as market occurrence values, but the paper is highly relevant to source/pathway documentation and soil-to-plant transfer mechanics.
Implications
Supply-chain: The paper belongs in the soil-to-plant-transfer hub because it shows that microplastic type can change root and shoot metal accumulation in an edible leafy crop.
Health: The food-safety framing is still relevant because the edible plant tissue is measured directly, even though the growing conditions are experimental rather than market-representative.
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The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ae6c129 | 2026-07-01 | feat(auth): large login + role-based signup screens (design, burgundy) |