Warning of kidney cell damage from high exposure to nanoplastics

Flinders University

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Flinders University researcher Hayden Gillings has studied the effects of nanoplastics on kidney cells. 

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Credit: Flinders University

As concerns rise about the effects of tiny plastic particles on human health, Flinders University researchers have led new research on whether nanoplastics can accumulate or cause damage in kidneys – our body’s major blood filtering system.

Their study, published in high-ranking international journal Cell Biology and Toxicology, calls for more investigations into the long-term risks, warning that high nanoplastics (NPs) particle ‘burden’ could seriously compromise kidney cell health and function.  

“The findings demonstrate that while lower concentrations of NPs (less than 1 micron or 0.001mm in diameter) may not result in immediate toxicity to the kidney cells, particularly in terms of short-term exposure, higher burdens can compromise overall cell health and function, causing changes to the cell shape, survival and cell regulation,” says first author Hayden Gillings, a PhD Candidate in Nanoplastics and Health at Flinders University.

“The results also indicate that the effects are influenced not only by concentration but also by polymer composition and particle size, with some combinations inducing significant cellular changes even at relatively low doses,” says Mr Gillings, from the College of Science and Engineering.

The laboratory study tested kidney cells with varying concentrations and sized NPs, sourced from commonly used polymers – polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) or ‘PMMA,’ and polyethylene (PE).

It was supported by medical scientists from Monash University as well as Flinders University’s College of Medicine and Public Health. 

The research team says sustained or repeated damage to regulatory kidney cells could impair kidney function, reduce filtration efficiency, clearance capacity, and lead to their potential buildup of NPs in kidney tissue over time.  

With these plastics most commonly present all around in the environment, the study emphasises the need for further real-world long-term investigations into the effects of concentration, size, polymer types and chemical additives.

“Such studies should also explore biological outcomes, including potential DNA damage and long-term functional consequences, to fully assess the risks posed by environmental NPs to kidney health and systemic exposure,” adds Flinders University Associate Professor Melanie MacGregor, an ARC Future Fellow and Matthew Flinders Fellow in Chemistry.

Associate Professor MacGregor, who leads the Nano and Microplastics Research Consortium at Flinders University,  says rising levels of plastic waste are breaking down in every part of Earth’s land, sea and air, leading to the proliferation of microplastic (pieces less than 5mm) and nanoplastic pollution posing a risk to all lifeforms.

“Millions of tonnes of microplastics can break down into even smaller nanoplastic particles and lead to chemical leakages,” she says. 

“Tougher measures should be taken to reduce the release of chemicals and pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and micro- and nanoplastics to the environment, food chain and living organisms – both during production and after use.”

Kidney Health Australia says 2.7 million Australians, or about 1 in 7 Australians aged over 18 years old, are living with signs of kidney disease. Diabetes, hypertension and other conditions can reduce kidney function, leading to waste build-up in your body, and harmful impact on health.

The new article, ‘Nanoplastic toxicity and uptake in kidney cells: differential effects of concentration, particle size, and polymer type’ (2026), Hayden Louis Gillings, Darling M Rojas-Canales, Soon Wei Wong, Kaustubh R Bhuskute, Amandeep Kaur, Iliana Delcheva, Jonathan M Gleadle and Melanie MacGregor by has been published in Cell Biology and Toxicology (Cell) DOI: 10.1007/s10565-025-10135-2.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship Grant (FT200100301), Flinders Foundation and the Flinders Medical Centre Renal Research Fund.

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Journal

Cell Biology and Toxicology

DOI

10.1007/s10565-025-10135-2 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

Nanoplastic toxicity and uptake in kidney cells: differential effects of concentration, particle size, and polymer type’

 

The possible applications of olive pomace: a study reveals the most sustainable option

University of Córdoba

The extraction of olive pomace oil is cited as the most sustainable alternative for the recovery of the olive oil industry’s byproducts, according to a methodology developed by the UCO that considers economic, environmental and social indicators.

The olive oil industry is a good example of how to tackle the challenges of sustainability in the agri-food sector. Each olive campaign generates tons of alperujo, the main byproduct of the extraction of olive oil, a derivative that must be managed. For decades, mills have been on the circular economy path, establishing different ways of exploiting olive pomace that go beyond just avoiding pollution.

The three main alternatives for the recovery of this byproduct employed by mills today at the industrial level are: the extraction of olive pomace oil, which is used for cooking, mainly in the hospitality industry, and which, in turn generates, a byproduct, pomace, used to produce energy; composting, which produces organic fertilizer; and gasification, a technology that allows for the production of renewable energy and biochar, a material useful to improve soil quality and retain carbon. Which of the three options is the most sustainable? That is the question that researchers David Polonio, Rubén Granado, José A. Gómez-Limón and Anastasio J. Villanueva, members of the WEARE research group at the University of Córdoba, are trying to answer.

The analysis is not limited to the environmental aspect, as one of the main contributions of this work is a methodology that jointly evaluates the environmental, economic and social effects of each alternative, “thus answering the sector's question about which is the most sustainable technology that can be chosen at a mill to implement it,” said Gómez-Limón.

“The methodology we have developed includes life cycle analysis to evaluate the environmental aspect; economic indicators related to the necessary investment, economic risk, and the profitability of each alternative; and indicators showing the social importance of each one, associated with the generation of employment, its quality and seasonality,” explained David Polonio. It is important, Anastasio Villanueva pointed out: “to introduce uncertainty: through statistical techniques, the probability of changes in the electricity market is introduced, for example, which affects the profitability of one or the other option depending on the campaign.”

Applying this three-pronged methodology, a composite indicator of global sustainability is produced. Using this methodology, the most sustainable option currently is the extraction of olive pomace oil, which is also the most widely implemented in the sector. For mills, this alternative is the most attractive from an economic point of view, as it does not require investment, and entails fewer risks. However, when other factors of environmental and social interest are taken into account, such as reduced emissions, or the creation of higher-quality jobs, alternatives such as gasification offer clear advantages, closely following extraction in the global calculation. Composting, the third in this ranking, stands out for its contribution to rural employment and its benefits for agricultural soil, although its economic profitability is currently more limited.

One of the conclusions, according to Gómez-Limón, “is that the sector has been doing well for a long time because the most sustainable method is the one most widely implemented today.”

It’s not an either-or question

Another conclusion is that the overall differences between the alternatives are not very great. This means that small changes (in energy prices, in the demand for organic fertilizers, or in public policies, for example) can tip the scales towards more beneficial options for society as a whole. The particular situation of each mill must also be taken into account: those that are far away from the pomace extraction plants must assume significant transport costs, so the option of gasification is more profitable.

As the work shows, the alternatives with the greatest environmental and social benefits are not always the most profitable for private companies. Therefore, the authors point to the importance of designing public policies that incentivize the most environmentally and employment-friendly options, whether through investment aid, financial instruments, or mechanisms that recognize the social and environmental value generated.

Reference:

Polonio, D., R. Granado-Díaz, J. A. Gómez-Limón, and A. J. Villanueva. 2025. Sustainability Assessment of Circular Strategies in the Agri-Food Industry: The Case of Olive Mills' By-Product Valorization. Business Strategy and the Environment 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70371.

 

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Journal

Business Strategy and the Environment

DOI

10.1002/bse.70371 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Sustainability Assessment of Circular Strategies in the Agri-Food Industry: The Case of Olive Mills' By-Product Valorization

 

Missing pieces added to ancient global fish puzzle

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Flinders University

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Illustration of Paleolopus - a lungfish that swam in the South Chinese seas 410 million years ago courtesy Brian Choo (Flinders University)

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Credit: B Choo (Flinders University)

New pieces have been added to the puzzle of the evolution of some of the oldest fish that lived on Earth more than 400 million years ago.

In two separate studies, experts in Australia and China have found new clues about primitive lungfishes, the closest living relatives of land vertebrates.

The new research builds on long-running work by Flinders University and other palaeontologists in the fossil-rich Gogo site in Western Australia's far north, and with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The study of living and fossil lungfish provides anatomical clues into the evolutionary development of tetrapods, backboned animals with limbs including humans, that first left the water to live on land. 

The mysterious fossil from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation in WA has been further analysed using the latest technologies including CT scanning and computed tomography, with the results published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology.

Lead author Dr Alice Clement, from Flinders University's Palaeontology Lab, says new research is slowly adding to the story of the key Australian fossil site's rich diversity of lungfishes – including re-examining poorly preserved specimens.

One such damaged specimen has yielded valuable new clues. It comes from Australia's first 'Great Barrier Reef,' the Devonian-age reef in the Kimberley region of northern WA.

"The unusual specimen was so enigmatic, the authors who first described it in 2010 considered it could be a whole new type of fish never before seen in science," explains Dr Clement, from the College of Science and Engineering. 

"Using high-tech scanning, this time we were able to create comprehensive new digital images of the external and internal cranium, showcasing the complexity of the brain cavity of this fascinating lungfish," she says.

"In fact, we were also able to confirm that previous impressions were probably viewed upside down and back to front."

Coauthor Hannah Thiele, with support from multiple museums and facilities such as Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), was able to use the advanced technologies to put a new lens on this most enigmatic specimen.

"We were able to compare its most preserved inner ear area with other Gogo lungfish.  This is an extra data point in the amazing collection of lungfish and early vertebrate species," she says.

"It adds to the wider understanding of the evolution of these earliest lobe-finned fishes, both in Gondwana and across the world."

Meanwhile in the journal Current Biology, another reconstruction of an early fish skull has described a species called Paleolopus - a lungfish that swam in the South Chinese seas 410 million years ago.

Flinders researcher Dr Brian Choo and colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, have called the new fossil, Paleolophus yunnanensis ('Old crest from Yunnan').  

"Paleolophus gives us an unprecedented look at a lungfish from a time between their earliest appearance and their great diversification a few million years later,” says Dr Choo, from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University.

"It was a time when the group was just starting to develop the distinctive feeding adaptations that would serve them for the remainder of the Devonian and onwards to the present day."

Lungfish are an incredibly ancient lineage, he says, “including the still living Australian lungfish from Queenland, that have long fascinated researchers due to their close relationship to the tetrapods, or backboned animals with limbs, including humans".

"The exceptional lungfish skull unearthed in 410 million-year-old rocks in Yunnan gives us major insights into the rapid evolutionary diversification between the early-, mid- and late Devonian.”

Dr Choo adds that the new specimen had similar and divergent features compared to the earliest and most primitive Diabolepis fossil in southern China, and species such as Uranolophus from Wyoming in the US and other forms like Australia's Dipnorhynchus.

The new article, ‘A new fossil fish sheds light on the rapid evolution of early lungfishes’ (2025), by Tuo Qiao, Xindong Cui, Wenjin Zhao, Chengxi Lu, Maokun Li, Jing Lu, Brian Choo and Min Zhu has been published in Current Biology (CellPress) DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.11.032.

The article, 'Deciphering Cainocara enigma from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation, Australia' (2025) by Hannah S Thiele, John A Long, 

Joseph J Bevitt (Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, ANSTO) and Alice M Clement has been published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology (Canadian Science Publishing) DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2025-0109.

Acknowledgements: The China study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (92255301 and 42302005) and the Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP 220100825).
The Gogo study was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC DP 220100825). Researchers acknowledge the Gooniyandi community and country for access to their land, fossils and knowledge. 

3D print of Chirodipterus australis skull, a lungfish from the Gogo Formation, which shares close similarities to Cainocara enigma.

Credit

Flinders University

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Journal

Canadian Journal of Zoology

DOI

10.1139/cjz-2025-0109 

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Deciphering Cainocara enigma from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation, Australia

Article Publication Date

28-Jan-2026

 

Mediterranean pine needle loss analyzed for more efficient forest management

A study combines climate, field and remote sensing data to identify growth patterns associated with defoliation processes and mortality in artificial pine forests

University of Córdoba

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Reforested areas in the Baza (Granada) and Los Filabres (Almería) mountain ranges have experienced severe die-offs in recent years, with extensive woodland loss. Needle or leaf loss (defoliation) is one of the best indicators of tree health, particularly in pine forests under stress. When trees lose their needles, or leaves, their photosynthetic capacity deteriorates significantly, reducing growth and often leading to mortality.

Identifying the causes of defoliation processes is crucial to adopting the appropriate forestry measures to retard these forests' decline. A study by the ERSAF group at the University of Cordoba, carried out by María Ángeles Varo Martínez and Rafael María Navarro Cerrillo, has focused on analyzing time series of LiDAR (Teleported Aerial Laser) data from the National Aerial Orthophotography Plan (National Geographic Institute) to evaluate the defoliation processes in the Baza-Filabres complex, an area much affected by droughts. The LiDAR data collected over the last 10 years, supplemented by field observations and climate data, have made it possible to verify the relationship between defoliation and early growth loss, allowing us to accurately map tree deterioration processes.

Furthermore, these data, and their mapping, allow us to study the drivers of these processes, which are related to tree density (competition) and climatic factors, mainly temperature. In fact, looking at the temperature anomalies in the period studied, the team found that the existence of a summer with abnormally high temperatures subsequently led to an increase in defoliation.

The results obtained ― both the growth mapping and the identification of early drivers of defoliation ― make it possible to plan forestry to mitigate or attenuate this damage. As Varo Martínez explained: “these pine forests originate from plantations introduced between the 1950s and 1980s, which, in many cases, have not been subject to silvicultural interventions, which increases the risk of fires, as well as mortality linked to climatic factors (such as severe droughts) or biotic ones (such as pests and diseases). Poorly managed pine forests are denser, which means a greater likelihood of defoliation processes occurring.”

The research team argues that forest management policies should focus on regulating tree density through thinning programs based on defoliation and mortality risk, while promoting structural and species diversity in reforested pine forests. “It would be advisable to implement silvicultural treatments that open up the canopy to promote balanced growth of the forest stand, optimizing the growth of remaining trees and encouraging more diverse vertical and horizontal structure,” explained Martínez.

The key: a laser from an airplane

The study's most innovative aspect is its use of time series from LiDAR data. These aerial LiDAR systems, deployed nationally through the PNOA-IGN, offer nationwide coverage and enable researchers to generate high-precision 3D maps of forest structure and measure vegetation characteristics such as height, canopy coverage, and growth changes, thereby providing valuable insights into forest decline processes.

Reference

María Ángeles Varo-Martínez, Rafael M Navarro-Cerrillo, “Understanding defoliation of Pinus plantations in the Mediterranean mountains using tree segmentation and ALS time series,” Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 395, 2025, 127837, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127837.

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Journal

Journal of Environmental Management

DOI

10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127837 

Article Title

Understanding defoliation of Pinus plantations in the Mediterranean mountains using tree segmentation and ALS time series