Groundbreaking Study Shows Microplastics Travel from Intestines to Organs like Liver, Kidneys, and Brain, Reveals Research in Environmental Health Perspectives

The new research leads to surprises. For example, the research shows that the microplastics travel from our intestines to other organs – the liver, the kidneys and even the brain.

Researchers write this in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. They are based on experiments with mice.

Plastic is complete
“In recent decades, microplastics have been found in the ocean, in animals, in plants, in tap water and bottled water,” says researcher Eliseo Castillo. “They (microplastics, ed.) seem to be everywhere.” And microplastics have also been found in the human body. We take them into our drinking water, through the food we eat and even through the air we breathe. But what exactly happens when we eat these microplastics? Castillo and his colleagues have now found out.

mice
They used mice for this. The mice were given drinking water containing microplastics for four weeks. In this way, the researchers made sure that the animals ate roughly as much microplastics per week as people estimate that we eat per week. After four weeks, the researchers looked at where the microplastics were located in the mice’s bodies. The first place you would expect to see microplastics is of course the digestive tract. But it didn’t stop there, Castillo says. “We were able to find the microplastics in different tissues after exposing the mice to them.” It turned out that the mice had microplastics in their liver, kidneys and brain. “It tells us that the microplastics can cross the intestinal barrier and enter other tissues. ”

Metabolism
The research also shows that microplastics change the metabolism in the tissues they enter. The extent to which they do this seems to depend, among other things, on the amount of microplastics in the material.

Worrying
The results are very troubling for Castillo, he says. “These mice were exposed (to microplastics, right) for four weeks. Now think about what that could mean for people, when they are exposed (to microplastics, ed.) from birth to old age. “

A healthy gut
The fact is that microplastics also live in the human body now established. But it is not yet clear to what extent these microplastics affect our health. Castillo would like to investigate this further and will focus first on the effects of microplastics on the intestines. That is a very conscious choice, he explains. “Research shows time and time again how important a healthy gut is. If you don’t have a healthy gut, it affects the brain, liver and so many other tissues. So imagine that microplastics do something in the intestines, and then that could affect your body. “

Follow-up research
The next step for Castillo and his colleagues is to find out if what you eat affects how much microplastic is absorbed into the body. “Every diet is different,” explained researcher Sumira Phatak. “So what we’re going to do is we’re going to give lab animals a diet high in fat or fiber and then we’re going to expose them to microplastics or not. The aim is to find out if the diet affects the absorption of microplastics in the body. ” In addition, another colleague of Castillo is currently looking at the effect of microplastics on the bacteria that live in our intestines. “Several research groups have shown that microplastics change the microbiome, but how they change the microbiome has not yet been studied,” Castillo explains.

Ultimately, Castillo hopes that the studies will reveal the effects of microplastics on health in general. And it could also offer us points of departure to prevent the intake of microplastics or to reduce the impact of that intake.