September 27, 2024 Source: Thicha Satapitanon / Getty New research suggests microplastics can reach the brain.
According to a new study published this month in the JAMA Network Open Journal , scientists in Brazil found the tiny bits of plastic in brain tissue of cadavers.
Researchers examined the part of the brain called the olfactory bulb. It processes information about smell. People have two olfactory bulbs, one above each nasal cavity. The olfactory nerve connects the olfactory bulb and the nasal cavity. But some scientists are worried the olfactory pathway could be an entry point for microplastics getting into the brain beyond the olfactory bulb.
“Previous studies in humans and animals have shown that air pollution reaches the brain, and that particles have been found in the olfactory bulb, which is why we think the olfactory bulb is probably one of the first points for microplastics to reach the brain,” said lead study author Dr. Thais Mauad, an associate professor of pathology at the University of São Paulo Medical School in Brazil.
Dr. Mauad and her team examined olfactory bulb tissue from 15 cadavers of people who died between the ages of 33 to 100. Samples from 8 of the cadavers had microplastics. Researchers found 16 plastic fibers and particles in total in the tissues. The smallest ones were slimmer than the diameter of a human red blood cell, which measures about 8 micrometers. The most common type of plastic they found was polypropylene. Nylon was also found.
“Propylene is everywhere, in furniture, rugs, clothes,” Mauad told NBC News . “We know the place we are most exposed to particles is indoors, because all of our homes are full of plastic.”
But the presence of microplastics in the olfactory bulb doesn't man there are microplastics elsewhere in the brain, like in areas related to cognition. It's also unclear whether the particles can reach those parts of the brain through the olfactory bulb.
Dr. Mary Johnson, an environmental health research scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health was not involved in the research but said neurological diseases including dementia have been linked to exposure to air pollution, where microplastics become airborne.
“The thought is, could microplastics, could that be a part of the puzzle?” she said. “Part of the concern is not just the particle itself, it's the fact that those plastics have additives in them, some of them we know are potentially toxic.
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