Table 3.

Toxicology of organic contaminants attached to NPs.

Contaminant	NP type	NP size (nm)	NP concentration (mg/L)	Organism	Toxic effects	Key findings	Reference
Bisphenol A	Polystyrene	50	1	Zebrafish	Neurotoxicity	Enhance the accumulation of Bisphenol A in head and viscera by 2.2, 2.6 folds, respectively	(Chen et al., 2017)
2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether and triclosan	Polystyrene	50	10	Marine rotifer Brachionus koreanus	Generate oxidative stress	Inhibit the membrane defense of organic contaminants (inhibit the activities of multidrug resistance proteins and P-glycoproteins)	(Jeong et al., 2018)
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)	Polystyrene	100	2, 5, 10, 20	Daphnia magna	Lethal	Enhance the accumulation of PCBs by 1.4–2.6 folds	(Jiang et al., 2018)
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Polystyrene	568	0.4	Clamworm Perinereis aibuhitensis	Lethal	NPs at environment relevant concentrations (0.4 mg/L) contributed little to bioaccumulation of PAHs	(Jiang et al., 2019)
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)	Polystyrene	100	1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 75	Daphnia magna	Lethal	Low NP concentration (1 mg/L) decreased the lethality, while high NP concentration (75 mg/L) increased the lethality	(Lin et al., 2019)
Tetracycline	Polystyrene	50 – 100	1000 mg/kg	Enchytraeus crypticus*	Not investigated	The number of antibiotics resistance genes increased	(Ma et al., 2020b)
Phenanthrene	Polystyrene	50	2.5, 5, 8.5, 11, 14.5	Daphnia magna	Physical damage, lethal	The toxicity of NP and phenanthrene showed an additive effect	(Ma et al., 2016)
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Polystyrene	45	10	Zebrafish	Impair mitochondrial energy production	NP decreased the toxicity of PAHs but impared mitochondrial energy production	(Trevisan et al., 2019)
Glyphosate	Amino-modified polystyrene	200	3, 5, 10, 20	Microcystis aeruginosa	Inhibit photosynthetic capacity	NP has a strong adsorption capacity for glyphosate, alleviating the toxic effect of glyphosate	(Zhang et al., 2018)

Note: *Organisms in terrestrial ecosystems.