Are Microplastics Eating Your Brain?

You probably have plastics in your brain right now. But don’t look for any. They are microplastics and they could be causing serious damage to your body as you read these words.

So, how do they get into your brain?

Researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) explained “From our water, our food and even the air we breathe, tiny plastic particles are finding their way into many parts of our body.”

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles, less than five millimeters long, that can harm the environment and animal health. They come from two main sources. Primary microplastics are tiny particles designed for commercial use, such as those found in cosmetics, exfoliating scrubs, and facial cleansers. Secondary microplastics arise from the breakdown of larger plastic products through natural weathering processes or by washing clothes made from synthetic fibers. Common sources include single-use plastic bags, plastic bottles, and synthetic clothing.

Microplastics are a major environmental concern because they are so small and widespread. They can be ingested by wildlife, including fish, shellfish, and birds, and can block their digestive systems or cause other health problems. Microplastics can also absorb pollutants from the environment, which can then be released into the bodies of animals that ingest them.

Eliseo Castillo, PhD, an associate professor in the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology in the UNM School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine and an expert in mucosal immunology, is leading the charge at UNM on microplastic research.

“Over the past few decades, microplastics have been found in the ocean, in animals and plants, in tap water and bottled water,” Castillo, says. “They appear to be everywhere.”

Over a four-week period, Castillo, postdoctoral fellow Marcus Garcia, PharmD, and other UNM researchers exposed mice to microplastics in their drinking water. The amount was equivalent to the quantity of microplastics humans are believed to ingest each week.

Microplastics had migrated out of the gut into the tissues of the liver, kidney and even the brain, the team found. The study also showed the microplastics changed metabolic pathways in the affected tissues.

“We could detect microplastics in certain tissues after the exposure,” Castillo says. “That tells us it can cross the intestinal barrier and infiltrate into other tissues.”

Castillo says he’s also concerned about the accumulation of the plastic particles in the human body. “These mice were exposed for four weeks,” he says. “Now, think about how that equates to humans, if we’re exposed from birth to old age.”

Castillo hopes that his research will help uncover the potential impacts microplastics are having to human health and that it will help spur changes to how society produces and filtrates plastics.

“At the end of the day, the research we are trying to do aims to find out how this is impacting gut health,” he says. “Research continues to show the importance of gut health. If you don’t have a healthy gut, it affects the brain, it affects the liver and so many other tissues. So even imagining that the microplastics are doing something in the in the gut, that chronic exposure could lead to systemic effects.”