Credit: Haipeng Huang et al.
Environmental biologists have discovered that when consumed by mice, microplastics take only hours to reach their brains. Once in the brain, microplastics lead to several impairments including memory loss, reduction in motor skills, and lower endurance.
In their work, published in Science Advances, the researchers used water tainted with microplastics of varying sizes to study the medical impact of consuming microplastics. By using fluorescent plastic ranging from micro to nano, the team employed two-photon microscopy to image the blood vessels to track microplastic movement.
In their imagery, the plastics can be tracked throughout the mice’s bodies and ultimately their brain tissue. In addition to tracking the microplastic movements the team also observed locations where the plastics would become backed up, similar to a traffic jam. After further investigating it was determined that some of the microplastics were captured by immune cells, causing backups.
The team notes that while mouse and human anatomy differ substantially, the findings reinforce the need for further research into microplastic movement and effects within humans.