From bottled water to the foods we choose to put on our plates, such as fish, microplastics are now everywhere.
But a newer study reveals yet another dangerous aspect of their staying in the body.
Following the revelation in an earlier study that microplastics were even found in the heart, new evidence comes to confirm the finding of microplastics in the human placenta.
In the study, published in Toxicological Sciences, a team from the University of New Mexico (UNM) Health Sciences, led by Dr. Matthew Campen, PhD, Regents’ Professor in the UNM Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, reported finding microplastics in all 62 placenta samples tested, with concentrations ranging from 6.5 to 790 micrograms per gram of tissue.
Although these numbers may seem small (a microgram is a millionth of a gram), Dr. Campen is concerned about the health effects of the steadily increasing amount of microplastics in the environment.
However, the doses of microplastics also play an important role, as “the dose makes the poison,” he points out, and goes on to say that “if the dose keeps increasing, we start to worry.
If we see effects on the placenta, then all mammalian life on this planet could be affected. And that’s not good.”
For their study, the researchers, working with colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine and Oklahoma State University, analyzed donated placental tissue.
In a process called saponification, they chemically processed the samples to digest fat and proteins into a kind of soap.
Then, by spinning each sample in a supercentrifuge, which leaves a small piece of plastic at the bottom of the tube, they used a technique called pyrolysis: that is, they placed the plastic pellet in a metal cup and heated it to 600 degrees Celsius.
They then recorded the gas emissions as the different types of plastic burned at specific temperatures.
They found that the most prevalent polymer in the placental tissue was polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags and bottles. In particular, it accounted for 54% of all plastics.
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Polyvinyl chloride (better known as PVC) and nylon each accounted for about 10% of the total, with the remainder consisting of nine other polymers.
Dr. Marcus Garcia, PharmD, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Campen’s lab who conducted many of the experiments, said that until now it has been difficult to quantify the amount of microplastics present in human tissues.
Typically, researchers simply counted the number of particles that were visible under the microscope, although some particles are too small to be seen.
With the new analytical method, he said, “we can take it to the next step to be able to quantify it adequately and say, ‘This is how many micrograms or milligrams,’ depending on the plastics we have.”
Dr Campen said the increasing concentration of microplastics in human tissue may explain puzzling increases in certain types of health problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer in people under 50, as well as a decrease in sperm count.
