Table 2.

Abundance of microplastics in human biological samples

Type of sample	Sample Size	Abundance of microplastics	Size of microplastics	Shape of microplastics	Colour of microplastics	Polymer of microplastics	References
Breastmilk	7	20.2 particles/g	>20 μm	NA	NA	PA, PU, PE, PET, PP, PVC, POM, EVA, PTFE, CPE, Polybutadiene, PS, PMMA, PLA, Polysulfones	[26]
	34	58 particles in total	1–12 μm	Fragment, sphere	Orange, blue, black, red, grey, brown, green, transparent, magenta	PE, PVC, PP, CPE, PVOH, PEVA, PEMA, ABS, PES, PA, PC, PS, NC	[32]
Meconium	2	NA	>50 μm	NA	NA	PE, PP, PS	[24]
	12	54.1 particles/g	>20 μm	NA	NA	PA, PU, PE, PET, PP, PVC, POM, EVA, PTFE, CPE, PS, PMMA, PLA, Polysulfones	[26]
Infant faeces	12	26.6 particles/g	>20 μm	NA	NA	PA, PU, PE, PET, PP, PVC, POM, EVA, PTFE, CPE, Polybutadiene, PS, PMMA, PLA, Polysulfones	[26]
Semen	25 semen samples	24 microplastics in 11 of 25 semen samples (0.23 ± 0.45 particles/mL)	21.76–286.71 μm	Fibre, fragment, subspherical, film	NA	PVC, PE, PA, PP, PS, PET	[31]
	10 healthy young men	16 microplastics in 6 of 10 semen samples	2–5 μm	Fragment, sphere	Green, black, grey, orange, clear, yellow, blue, magenta	PP, PS, PET, PVS, PC, POM, Arcylic	[33]
Stool	8 healthy young men	9 particles in total	50–500 μm	Fragment, film	NA	PP, PET, PS, PE, POM, PC, PA, PVC, PU	[34]
	8 participants	129 particles (20.4–138.9 particles/g)	40.2–4812.9 μm	Fragment, fibre	NA	PS, PP, PE, PET, PVC	[35]
	50 of healthy adult	3070 particles (28 items/g)	4.4–333.2 μm	Sheet, fibre fragment, pellet	NA	PET, PA, PP, PE, PC, PVC, POM, PTFE, EVA, PS, PMMA, PBT, AS, PET, TPU	[36]
	52 of inflammatory bowel disease patients	5459 particles (41.8 items/g)	1.7–393.8 μm	Sheet, fibre, fragment, pellet	NA	PET, PA, PP, PE, PC, PVC, POM, PTFE, EVA, PS, PMMA, PBT, AS, PET, TPU	[36]
	11 of coastal fishermen population	3.33–13.99 μg/g	<5 mm	NA	NA	HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PP, PS, PET	[37]
	11 of rural farming community	6.94–16.55 μg/g	<5 mm	NA	NA	PET, PS, PP, PE, HDPE, LDPE	[38]
	26 young male students	1–36 particles/g	20–800 μm	NA	NA	PP, PET, PS, PE, PVC, PC, PA, PU	[39]
Sputum	22	18.75 − 91.75 particles/10mL	20–500 μm	NA	NA	PU, PES, Chlorinated polyethylene, alkyd varnish	[40]
Urine	6	7 particles in total	4–15 μm	Fragment, sphere	Transparent, brown, blue, green, red	PVA, PVC, PP, PE	[41]
	9	98 particles in total	0.01 nm–871 μm	Fibre, fragment	Black	PP, PA	[42]

ABS – Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, CA – Cellulose Acetate, CPE – Chlorinated Polyethylene, EPS – Expanded Polystyrene, EVA – Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate, HDPE – High-Density Polyethylene, LDPE – Low Density Polyethylene, NA – not available, NC – Nitrocellulose, mm – millimetre, PA – Polyamide, PAN – Polyacrylonitrile, PBS – Phosphate-buffered Saline, PBT – Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic, PES – Polyethersulfone, PET – Polyethylene Terephthalate, PEMA – Phenylethylmalonamide, PC – Polycarbonate, PLA – Polylactic acid, PMMA – Polymethyl Methacrylate, POM – Polyoxymethylene, PP – Polypropylene, PS – Polystyrene, PSF/PSU – Polysulfone, PU/PUR – Polyurethane, PTFE – Polytetrafluoroethylene, PVC – Polyvinyl Chloride, PVOH – Polyvinyl Alcohol, TPE – Thermoplastic Elastomers, SEBS – Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene, μm – micrometre, μg/g – microgram per gram