{
  "abstract": "Determining human microplastic exposure from external intake estimates combined with biodistribution modelling remains highly uncertain because errors propagate across multiple pathways and assumptions. We therefore present a framework for estimating internal human microplastic exposure directly from published measurements in organs, tissues, and bodily fluids. The framework integrates dataset selection, QA/QC screening, and an updated mathematical alignment method incorporating statistical fitting, goodness-of-fit testing, and comparison of alternative particle-size distributions to support cross-compartment comparison and whole-body inference. As a proof of principle, we applied this approach to published human microplastic particle data under two scenarios: an ‘as measured’ scenario and a ‘biologically plausible’ scenario in which particle size distributions were truncated at literature-based accessibility limits. The scenarios produced strongly divergent mean estimates: 159.4 mg (80.9–824; parametric 95 % Monte Carlo interval) under the ‘as measured’ scenario and 0.41 mg (0.22–1.56; parametric 95 % Monte Carlo interval) for the truncated ‘biologically plausible’ scenario. This 388-fold divergence shows that current quantitative inference is dominated by assumptions about the treatment of unusually large particles and data quality. The values should therefore be interpreted as scenario-bounded framework outputs conditional on the currently available, clinically biased dataset, and not as estimates representative of healthy populations or the general population. The framework also yielded apparent, size-dependent organ-to-blood ratios that may serve as provisional benchmarks or hypothesis-generating boundary conditions for future physiologically based kinetic (PBK) model development, but not yet as validated tissue-partitioning constants. Although current data quality limits regulatory-grade quantification, the framework provides a transparent basis for exposure assessment using human monitoring data, for identifying key uncertainties, and for illustrating potential future regulatory application.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Corresponding author.",
    "Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "A.A. Koelmans"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Y. Qiu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "I. Wardani"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "E.H.Van Nes"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "T. Lane"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a63q2jded3yan.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.envint.2026.110567",
  "fulltext_url": "http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412026005258",
  "id": "a63q2jded3yan",
  "issns": [
    "0160-4120"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2026.110567",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "GE1-350"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2310|Microplastics and Plastic Pollution"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222901131",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "Elsevier",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a63q2jded3yan.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:44:32Z",
      "native_id": "71b93f05589a4f1cbe4c69a036984a57",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2026.110567"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:2310|Microplastics and Plastic Pollution",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A framework for assessing human internal microplastic exposure through dataset alignment and quality screening",
  "title_text": "A framework for assessing human internal microplastic exposure through dataset alignment and quality screening",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T13:44:32Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a63q2jded3yan",
  "venue": "Environment International",
  "versions": []
}