Microplastics linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s can enter the brain at frightening speed, a study suggests.
Researchers at Vassar College, in Upstate New York, joined an Austrian team to research whether the toxins — found in everything from food packaging to plastic water bottles — could cross the blood-brain barrier of mice.
Previous research has found that just scratching a non-stick pan once can release millions of the toxins into a person’s food.
The defense mechanism — which is made up of closely linked blood cells and also found in people — is the final defense the body’s most important organ has against outside invaders. The researchers found the plastics could cross the barrier and reach the rodents’ brains within two hours of exposure.
Once the plastics reach the brain, they can cause inflammation and interfere with neurons’ processes. These disruptions are linked to multiple cognitive diseases.
Researchers found that a single scratch on a nonstick pan can lead to millions of dangerous microparticles entering a person’s food and expose them to the long-term harms associated with them such as organ damage and fertility issues
Microplastics are so abundant that some research estimates 99 percent of Americans have some detectable levels in their bloodstream, with microplastics even found in organs of developing fetuses.
Exposure to these particles can cause brain issues and increase the risk of neurological diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s.
‘In recent years, plastic pollution has become an increasingly important environmental and human health issue,’ researchers wrote.
‘Although the environmental impacts of plastic pollution have been widely studied, the potential health consequences of plastic consumption on mammals including humans remain to be elucidated.’
Microplastics are small particles of five millimeters of length or smaller. For this study, researchers used particles as small as five nanometers — which is a billionth of a single meter.
These plastics are also present in food products, slipping into some packaging and water sold in disposable bottles.
They can also be found in cooking items — particularly non-stick cookware — clothes, toys and other regular household goods.
For the latest research, published last week in the journal Nanomaterials, researchers gathered data from six mice.
The rodents were split into three groups. Four mice were force-fed 100microliters of a mixture of microplastics and nanoparticles.
Researchers euthanized and then dissected the brains of the mice two or four hours after they were exposed to the chemicals.
Two other mice who were not exposed were euthanized and dissected as a control group.
Researchers found that the microplastics managed to pierce the blood-brain barrier in both groups, meaning it took only two hours for contamination.
The barrier is a series of blood vessels and tissue that protects the brain from harmful substances.
Some substances, such as oxygen and water, are allowed to pass freely through the barrier.
However, it is hard to penetrate for bacteria and other outside pathogens.
It is one of the body’s most important defense systems. Some experts fear that plastics being able to pass this wall could be toxic to nerve cells — causing issues across the body.
‘In the brain, plastic particles could increase the risk of inflammation, neurological disorders or even neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s,’ Dr Lukas Kenner, a cancer researcher at the University of Vienna, in Austria’s capital city, said.
Researchers do note that this is a study in mice, and it is unclear whether the plastics can reach the brain — if at all — in humans.
The Austrian research team found that microplastics (in green, pointed to by white arrows) had penetrated the blood brain barrier and reached the surface of the brain. This occurred within hours after the mice were exposed to the chemicals. Researchers fear this penetration increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions
Microplastics are found in around 80 percent of the world’s tap water, according to a 2017 report by the University of Minnesota.
Some of these microplastics also fall into the class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — also known as forever chemicals.
These chemicals have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as the Environmental Protection Agency warns they are more dangerous than previously believed.
In 2022, the agency said the chemicals were dangerous in lower levels than previously believed.
Kidney and liver problems, fertility issues, diabetes, obesity and even cancer have all been tied to dangerous levels of exposure to these chemicals.
Just a slight scratch of a PFAS-contaminated dish can release millions of toxic chemicals into a person’s food, an Australian study published last year found.
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