Study finds microplastics in our brains are accumulating, with unknown outcomes on our health

[marmar]

Study finds microplastics in our brains are accumulating, with unknown outcomes on our health
For the first time, scientists were able to visualize how microplastics amass inside us

By Matthew Rozsa
Staff Writer
Published February 7, 2025 5:30AM (EST)


(Salon) Dr. Matthew Campen, a professor at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy, has been searching the brains of dead people to find something virtually all of us have polluting inside our skulls: Tiny particles of plastic known as micro and nanoplastics. But despite the ubiquity of microplastics in the human body, they’re not always easy to find.

Microplastics have been found everywhere in the human body, including blood, breast milk, testicles, heart tissue, lung tissue and various other organs. So it’s not entirely a surprise that these “shard-like fragments” have made their way into our brains as well. But the authors of a recent study in the journal Nature Medicine are the first to actually visualize these particles, as well as help document their cumulative effect on human health. A big issue is that the amount of plastics in our brains seems to be growing.

To demonstrate this, Campen’s colleague Dr. Eliane El Hayek figured out how their research team could visualize these cerebral nanoplastics. Through analysis of more than 20 years of brain, kidney and liver tissue, they found that these tiny plastic particles systematically accumulate. Their discovery has significant implications for human health, since most of these plastics contain unregulated chemicals which have been linked to dangerous health outcomes.

Indeed, the authors of the study found that an “even greater accumulation of [micro and nanoplastics] was observed” among the dead brains of dementia patients, particularly within the cerebrovascular walls and immune cells. This presents a potential health issue for everyone, since “plastic concentrations in these decedent tissues were not influenced by age, sex, race/ethnicity or cause of death” — although patients who died in 2024 tended to have higher concentrations compared to those who died in 2016. If there is a frustrating aspect to this news, it is that experts are only just beginning to grapple with the full scope of this pollution. Yet plastic pollution has been linked to (though not causally proven related to) plummeting sperm counts, childhood cancer, organ lesions and heart disease, among other ailments. .....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/02/07/study-finds-microplastics-in-our-brains-are-accumulating-with-unknown-outcomes-on-our-health/

[LiberalArkie]

1. Plastic water / soda / drink bottles?

[WestMichRad]

2. Microplastics come from a whole host of sources

Including plastic drink bottles. For instance, when you unseal a plastic drink bottle, a shower of microplastic particles are shed… some of which find their way into the beverage.

Laundering of synthetic fabrics just one of many other sources. And of course, there are microplastics put by design into a range of consumer products.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10072287/