Dry plastic particles can accumulate at higher levels in the human brain than in the kidney and liver, with higher concentrations detected in post -mortem samples of 2024 than in 2016, a study points out.
Although possible implications for human health are still clear, these findings highlight a consequence of the increase in global concentrations of environmental plastics, the scientists responsible for research point out, published in the journal Nature Medicine.
In this regard, they remember that the amount of nanoparticles and plastic microparticles increased exponentially in the last 50 years.
Matthew Campe and his Health Sciences team of the University of New Mexico (EU) used novel techniques to analyze the distribution of micro and nanoparticles in samples of liver, renal and brain tissues of people to whom autopsies were practiced in 2016 and 2024.
According to Camlan, plastic concentrations in the brain seemed to be higher than in the liver or kidneys, and higher than previous reports for placentas and testicles. “The findings should activate the alarm,” he says in a university statement.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers analyzed a total of 52 brain samples (28 in 2016 and 24 in 2024); They detected these particles in all of them and found similar concentrations in the samples of liver and kidney tissues obtained in 2016.
However, brain samples taken at that time, all derived from the frontal cortex region, contained substantially higher plastic particles than liver and kidney tissues.
The team also found that 2024 liver and brain samples had significantly higher concentrations of plastic micro and nanoparticles than 2016.
Next, they compared these findings with those of brain tissue samples of previous periods (1997-2013) and observed that there were higher concentrations of plastic particles in the most recent tissue samples.
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Need for more studies on health involvement by microplastics
Scientists also saw a greater concentration -10 times more- of micro and nanoplastic particles in 12 brains of individuals with a documented diagnosis of dementia than in those who did not have it.
However, about the latter, the authors themselves point out that the findings do not establish a causal relationship between plastic particles and health effects.
They also suggest that some variations in brain samples could be due to geographical differences, since the specimens were taken in New Mexico and in localities of the east coast of the United States.
Therefore, they say, more long -term studies are needed with broader and diverse populations to determine the trends of accumulation of microparticles and nanoparticles and their possible implications for health.
These results highlight the critical need to better understand exposure, absorption and elimination, and possible consequences for the health of plastics in human tissues, particularly in the brain, the researchers conclude in their article.
In recent years, various scientific studies on microplastics and the human body appeared.
Last week, for example, an investigation was published in the magazine that indicated that microplastics – 5 mm in those of those born to term.
And in the past plastics have been found, among others, in the deepest section of the lungs or in the bloodstream of humans.
With EFE information
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