Scientists detected microplastics in brain tissue

For the first time, the scientists have detected microscopic microplastics housed in the human brain. Researchers in Germany and Brazil They indicated that 8 of the 15 adults who underwent a autopsy Microplastics were detected inside the olfactory centers his brainin the olfactory bulb.

The particles are likely to be inhaled throughout life, as tiny floating microplastics are ubiquitous in the air. Although microplastics have already been found in lungsintestines, liver, blood, testicles and even human semenit was long thought that the body’s protective blood-brain barrier might keep the particles out of the brain.

However, the new study suggests that there is “a Potential pathway for microplastic translocation to the brain“through the olfactory bulb, according to a team led by Luis Fernando Amato-Lourencoof the Free University of Berlinand Thais Mauadassociate professor of pathology at the University of Sao Pauloin BrazilThe team published their findings in the Sept. 16 issue of the journal JAMA Network Open.

“Since the nanoplastics “If much smaller particles enter the body more easily, the total level of plastic particles could be much higher,” Mauad said in a news release from the Plastic Health Council, a group that advocates for reducing plastic use and funded the new study.

“What is worrying is the ability of these particles to be internalized by cells and alter the functioning of our bodies,” Mauad added.

How the study was conducted

The new study involved Brain tissue from 15 autopsies routine performed on deceased residents of Sao Paulo, BrazilThe age of the individuals at the time of death ranged from 33 to 100 years (mean age 69.5 years).

“A total of 16 synthetic polymer (plastic) particles and fibers” were identified in the brain olfactory bulbs of eight of the 15 deceased people, the researchers report.

In almost 44% of cases, the plastic was polypropyleneone of the most common plastics and used in everything from packaging to clothing and home accessories.

This suggests that “indoor environments are an important source of inhaled microplastics“the team said.

How these microscopic fragments are invading the brain

Amato-Lourenço and colleagues point out that nasal mucosa outside the brain can interact with cerebrospinal fluid to allow the entry of microplastics in the olfactory bulb through small “perforations” in the bony structures found in this area.

“So when you breathe through your nose, the olfactory nerve is directly sampling the particles and reacting to the particles that are inhaled as a direct sensory mechanism,” said Dr. Wells Brambl, a senior lecturer in medical toxicology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York City.

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Microplastics could be potentially dangerous for brain health.

“The fact that there is no blood-brain barrier leads to direct access to the brain and, importantly, just above the olfactory nerve are the frontal and prefrontal lobes, which are where we think the seat of consciousness is,” added Brambl, who was not involved in the study.

Other studies have already shown that “particles of environmental black carbon“from air pollution and, in rare cases, tiny amoebas that can trigger a deadly form of encephalitis are also detected there, the Brazilian researchers noted.

They said the new data “expand the notion that not only black carbon, but also microplastics accumulate in the olfactory bulb of the humans”.

That remains unclear, Amato-Lourenco’s team said, but the “potential” it’s there.

“Taking into account the possible neurotoxic effects caused by the microplastics in the brain, and widespread environmental pollution with plastics, our results should raise concern in the context of the increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases” such as Parkinsonthe ALS and other diseases, the researchers said.

“My intuition would say that it is not good to have plastic in the brain,” Brambl said.“However, data from long-term prospective studies have not yet been conducted. Therefore, it is impossible to draw definitive conclusions.”

Still, he said, “I think this study is very thought-provoking in the sense that we need to start thinking about this as a real, long-term public health problem.”