It is common knowledge today that microplastics can be found in countless everyday items integral to modern life. When scientists look for microplastics, they find them in food, water, and even parts of the human body. Before now, studies on the internal organs and microplastics were limited. However, in a new pilot study following people who underwent heart surgery, American Chemical Society (ACS) researchers found microplastics in many heart tissues and have gathered evidence suggesting that microplastics may have been either unexpectedly introduced during the procedures or prevalent in the bloodstream beforehand.
Microplastics are very small plastic fragments that, according to researchers, can enter the human body through mouths, noses, and other body cavities. Previously, scientists have lacked information regarding the effect of exposure to microplastic for human organs and tissues, due to the fact that they are fully enclosed in a person’s body. Now Kun Hua, Xiubin Yang, and their colleagues are looking to investigate whether these microscopic particles have entered the human body through indirect and direct contact, like surgeries.
In the preliminary experiment conducted by a team from Capital Medical University, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, 15 people undergoing cardiac surgery were examined. Six samples of the pericardium (the membrane that surrounds the heart), eleven samples of the fat tissue around the pericardium, three samples of heart muscle, five samples of the left atrial appendage, as well as preoperative and postoperative blood specimens from half of the patients, were examined. Upon analysis through laser direct infrared imaging—a type of imaging that used laser beams to detect the presence of microplastics in samples of tissue—the team identified 20 to 500 micrometer-wide particles made from eight types of plastic. Even more shocking was that the scientists were able to detect thousands of individual plastic pieces in most of the tissue samples. All of the blood samples contained plastic particles, although their average size and type of plastic varied. The research suggests that the human body transports the microscopic particles into the heart via the bloodstream.
While this study was only conducted on a limited number of participants, researchers believe that this evidence supports the idea that many microplastics can accumulate and remain in the heart and other tissues. Further, many scientists believe that the oversight of microplastic exposure through invasive medical procedures could prove detrimental in the long run. More studies will need to be conducted to fully understand the effects of microplastics on the bloodstream and internal tissues. It is important to note that the microplastics that were found in the samples were not as a result of the surgery itself. The preoperative blood samples already contained microplastics; microplastics that have the same makeup as plexiglass, which is not something that surgeons are in contact with during surgery.
The fact remains that the heart is the most important organ for the human body. While researchers urge for more research to understand the impact of microplastics and nanoplastics (an even smaller plastic that researchers did not observe in this study), the evidence pointing towards a new potential threat to people’s health continues to build.
