Microplastics Found In the Brains of Mice Within Hours of Consumption (phys.org) 43
A team of biologists have found that it takes microplastics consumed by mice just a few hours to reach their brains. "Wondering if the plastic in their brains was causing any impairment, the researchers tested several of the mice and found that many of them experienced memory loss, reductions in motor skills and lower endurance," reports Phys.Org. From the report: In this new effort, the research team sought to learn more about the medical impact of a mammal consuming different sizes of microplastics. The experiments consisted of feeding test mice water with different sized bits of fluorescent plastic in it, from micro to nano. They then tracked the progress of the plastic bits to see where they wound up in the bodies of the mice.
Knowing that the plastic would make its way from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, the researchers used two-photon microscopy to capture imagery of it inside blood vessels. Also, suspecting that the tiniest bits would make it into their brains, the team installed tiny windows in their skulls, allowing them to track the movement of the plastic in their brains.
In studying the imagery they created, the researchers were able to watch as the plastics made their way around the mice's bodies, eventually reaching their brains. They also noted that the plastic bits tended to get backed up, like cars in a traffic jam at different points. In taking a closer look at some of the backups in the brain, the researchers found that the plastic bits had been captured by immune cells, which led to even more backups. The findings have been published in the journal Science Advances.
Knowing that the plastic would make its way from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, the researchers used two-photon microscopy to capture imagery of it inside blood vessels. Also, suspecting that the tiniest bits would make it into their brains, the team installed tiny windows in their skulls, allowing them to track the movement of the plastic in their brains.
In studying the imagery they created, the researchers were able to watch as the plastics made their way around the mice's bodies, eventually reaching their brains. They also noted that the plastic bits tended to get backed up, like cars in a traffic jam at different points. In taking a closer look at some of the backups in the brain, the researchers found that the plastic bits had been captured by immune cells, which led to even more backups. The findings have been published in the journal Science Advances.
So what does it mean? ... (Score:1)
... are we going to dumb down because of mp's in our brain?
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Re:So what does it mean? ... (Score:5, Informative)
From the linked story: "the researchers tested several of the mice and found that many of them experienced memory loss, reductions in motor skills and lower endurance."
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Our own immune systems are working against us on this threat, to me that's the only truly new information here, and that might only be because I don't read enough scientific papers. We already knew plastic was ending up in brains.
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Our own immune systems are working against us on this threat, to me that's the only truly new information here, and that might only be because I don't read enough scientific papers. We already knew plastic was ending up in brains.
So, do these particles accumulate in the body and brain? Or does the body have a mechanism to remove these particles?
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That's the very question, isn't it? Some skin eruptions are the body ridding itself of a foreign body [mhmedical.com], which gets encapsulated by immune cells through an inflammatory response. This can also bring the body to the surface. But I'd hate to have to try to express plastic-bearing zits through my skull... My comment was heavily influenced by the last quoted paragraph in TFS.
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The article mentions a backup of blood flow compounded by the immune system latching onto it. In laymen terms this is similar to a reaction one has when they have a DVT that breaks free causing a stroke, heart attack, or PE. If microplastics are here to stay then immunotherapy is going to be needed to train the immune system to not respond to them.
Whats special about microplastics? (Score:5, Interesting)
Supposedly its more to do with their size than chemical composition, but if thats the case why don't other small particles - eg silt/mud particles - get into the blood stream too? Or maybe they do but no one has ever looked?
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Mud and silt have been around as long as organic life, thus our bodies have a natural way of processing them. Plastic is a new, man-made creation that our bodies have not adapted to deal with (break down, get rid of).
I also have a silly question about this experiment in particular: how do we know that installing a 'tiny window' wasn't the cause of the memory loss, reductions in motor skills and lower endurance? I'm mostly joking, but I can't ima
Re: Whats special about microplastics? (Score:2)
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So, it sounds like there's something to this blood donation thing. Dump a lot of the microplastics out with it.
But then when someone gets your donated blood, aren't they getting your donated microplastics too?
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The problem is everyone on the planet has microplastics in their blood now making a control group impossible.
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Why were they consuming mice? (Score:2)
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Don't eat mice. (Score:1)
Who is eating Mouse Brains? (Score:2)
Seriously, you need to word the headline better
I wonder if the tiny windows in the skulls... (Score:2)
...were made of plastic?
This could be a political article (Score:1)
within hours (Score:2)
Within hours of consumption. Ok, I'll make it a point not to eat mice in the future.
Horrible (Score:2)
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I'm all for minimizing plastic microparticles. But banning all plastic is like saying "we should just ban all cars". It's not a serious suggestion.
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autopsy studies (Score:2)
But how did they taste? (Score:2)
Reminds me of the old saccharin studies (Score:2)
They fed saccharin to mice and observed that the mice tended to get cancer. However, the quantities used were high enough to equate to humans consuming hundreds of cans of diet drinks per day.
Though these microplastics studies are interesting, unless they use quantities similar to what is normally consumed, the results showing "congestion" are not very informative.
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This is exactly what I thought.... Lab mice have value in testing these things, but there are limits. What we already know is that plenty of humans are exposed to a lot of microplastics and have been for quite some time. Do we see real evidence THEY suffer from things like memory loss or loss of coordination if they work in industries where they're exposed to a lot of plastic being cut up/processed/manufactured vs. the general population?
As someone into the relatively recent hobby of 3D printing, I know the
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Right... but I'd say a large and growing amount of 3D printing is done with PETG as opposed to PLA. (That's mostly because PETG has a higher melting point so doesn't start to deform or warp in the sun on summer days, but also because PETG has a little more flexibility than PLA.)
Since variants of PET plastics are already considered "food safe" materials and used for plastic water bottles and the like? I feel like they're pretty non-toxic too, except again, they could theoretically clog things up.
Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? (Score:2)
... I think so, Brain, but, how do they get the microplastics into their chewed up brains *after* they eat them? NARF.