Dramatic Repercussion of Microplastics on Algae’s Population: Special Highlights on Nutraceutical and Active Ingredients Content

An emerging concern for the environment, especially marine systems, is microplastics; these plastics with a micro or nano size interact with their environment causing terrible damages; algae are the first barrier encountered by microplastics; this induces a double impact: in one side algae can transform microplastics and reduce their pollution impact, and in another side microplastics can affect algae population but most importantly can induce changes in their composition and the quality of the nutrient and active ingredients produced by algae; these changes are drastic but could be in each way negative or positive. This review will highlight the effects of microplastic pollution on algae population, nutraceutical, and active ingredients content; the different classes of algae will be defined and their content and effect presented to be able to make the connection between the presence of microplastics in algae environment and the quality and quantity of their content of nutrients and active ingredients.