In a concerning development, microplastics have infiltrated the human body, breaching the protective blood-brain barrier to reach the central nervous system.
Plastic waste is an escalating issue on Earth, not only due to its detrimental effects on the environment lasting hundreds, even thousands of years, but also because of its severe impacts on human health. According to a new study from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, microplastics are increasingly found in human brain tissue at alarming concentrations.
Microplastics or nano plastics are increasingly found in the human brain.
Analysis images show microplastics present in human brain tissue.
Professor Matthew Campen, the lead author of the study, noted that the concentration of microplastics found in the brain tissue of healthy individuals aged 45 to 50 is around 4,800 micrograms per gram, accounting for approximately 0.5% of the total mass. This suggests that the human brain currently comprises 99.5% neural tissue, with the remaining portion being plastic.
The brain tissue samples were collected from the frontal cortex, which is associated with human reasoning and thought processes and is also the region most affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
These findings were gathered from autopsies conducted in early 2024. Compared to samples from 2016, the current levels of microplastics found in human bodies have increased significantly, by around 50%.
However, Professor Campen cautioned that this increase merely indicates a level of exposure and does not necessarily reflect the degree of brain damage.
Microplastics, also known as nano plastics, have somehow penetrated the human body, reaching the brain and crossing the blood-brain barrier. One hypothesis suggests that plastics have an affinity for fats or lipids. Thus, Professor Campen theorizes that microplastics enter the body through dietary fats, subsequently targeting lipid-rich areas such as the brain, which contains about 60% fat by weight, more than any other organ.
A large microplastic particle found in the human body.
From another perspective, Dr. Phoebe Stapleton, an Associate Professor of Pharmacy and Toxicology at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, emphasized the need for further research to verify how microplastics interact with body cell tissues and their potential toxicity before drawing conclusions that might alarm the public. According to Dr. Stapleton, no one can live without plastics in today’s world, especially as the science in this field continues to evolve.
