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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, 5 a.m. Eastern Time
Note to journalists: Please report that this research will be presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
The researchers will present their results today at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo. ACS is holding the meeting through Thursday. It features more than 6,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.
“You can find plastics contaminating the environment at virtually every location on the globe, and in a few short decades, we’ve gone from seeing plastic as a wonderful benefit to considering it a threat,” says Charles Rolsky, who is presenting the work at the meeting. “There’s evidence that plastic is making its way into our bodies, but very few studies have looked for it there. And at this point, we don’t know whether this plastic is just a nuisance or whether it represents a human health hazard.”
Scientists define microplastics as plastic fragments less than 5 mm, or about 0.2 inches, in diameter. Nanoplastics are even smaller, with diameters less than 0.001 mm. Research in wildlife and animal models has linked micro- and nanoplastic exposure to infertility, inflammation and cancer, but health outcomes in people are currently unknown. Previous studies have shown that plastics can pass through the human gastrointestinal tract, but Rolsky and Varun Kelkar, who is also presenting the research at the meeting, wondered if the tiny particles accumulate in human organs. Rolsky and Kelkar are graduate students in the lab of Rolf Halden, Ph.D., at Arizona State University.
To find out, the researchers collaborated with Diego Mastroeni, Ph.D., to obtain samples from a large repository of brain and body tissues that was established to study neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. The 47 samples were taken from lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys –– four organs likely to be exposed to, filter or collect microplastics. The team developed a procedure to extract plastics from the samples and analyze them by μ-Raman spectrometry. The researchers also created a computer program that converted information on plastic particle count into units of mass and surface area. They plan to share the tool online so that other researchers can report their results in a standardized manner. “This shared resource will help build a plastic exposure database so that we can compare exposures in organs and groups of people over time and geographic space,” Halden says.
The method allows the researchers to detect dozens of types of plastic components within human tissues, including polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene (PE). When paired with a previously developed mass spectrometry assay, plastic contamination was detected in every sample. Bisphenol A (BPA), still used in many food containers despite health concerns, was found in all 47 human samples.
To the researchers’ knowledge, their study is the first to examine micro- and nanoplastic occurrence in human organs from individuals with a known history of environmental exposure. “The tissue donors provided detailed information on their lifestyle, diet and occupational exposures,” Halden says. “Because these donors have such well-defined histories, our study provides the first clues on potential micro- and nanoplastic exposure sources and routes.”
Should people be concerned about the high detection frequency of plastic components in human tissues? “We never want to be alarmist, but it is concerning that these non-biodegradable materials that are present everywhere can enter and accumulate in human tissues, and we don’t know the possible health effects,” Kelkar says. “Once we get a better idea of what’s in the tissues, we can conduct epidemiological studies to assess human health outcomes. That way, we can start to understand the potential health risks, if any.”
A press conference on this topic will be held Monday, Aug. 17, at 12 p.m. Eastern time online at www.acs.org/fall2020pressconferences.
The researchers acknowledge funding from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, Plastic Oceans International and the Alzheimer’s Association.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder® and STN®), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
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Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Title
Methods to detect microplastics and nanoplastics in human tissue
Abstract
Multiple pathways have been established for exposure of humans to microplastics and nanoplastics but data on the burden of plastics in human tissues are still scarce. Exposure of mice to microplastics was documented resulted in accumulation of these polymers in diverse tissues and adverse effects on fertility and development of cancer. However, similar studies on human tissues and organs are still lacking. The objective of this study is to establish a robust methodology to extract and quantify micro- and nano-plastics from human tissues. Human tissues of liver, lung, spleen and kidney were obtained from a brain and body bank along with metadata on the medical, occupational and recreational history of the organ donors. After subjecting tissue samples to digestion, filtration, concentration and staining, the presence and abundance of polluting plastics were quantified using flow cytometry and Raman spectroscopy. Method performance was evaluated in terms of recovery rates and detection limits as a function of plastic particle dimension and tissue type. The study is among the first to establish the environmental background of plastic exposure detectable as an organ- and tissue-specific body burden in adult humans. The methodology may find future applications in the routine analysis of human biopsy and autopsy specimens for the determination of nanoplastic and microplastic exposure.
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Original post https://alertarticles.info
