In a recent study published in the journal EBioMedicine , researchers in China aimed to understand the impact of microplastic pollution on human health by identifying and quantifying the mass concentrations, physical properties, and polymer types of microplastics obtained from thrombi retrieved from deep veins found in the lower extremities, and coronary and cerebral arteries. Study: Multimodal detection and analysis of microplastics in human thrombi from multiple anatomically distinct sites . Image Credit: Ezume Images / Shutterstock The durability, versatility, and affordability of plastics that have made them almost indispensable to humans have also led to widespread plastic pollution and the persistence of microplastics in the environment.
Discarded plastic products often disintegrate into micro and nanoplastics that pollute the atmosphere, land, and water. Microplastic pollutants are of two types — primary microplastics that are produced for medical devices and cosmetics and are less than 5 mm in size, and secondary microplastics that are formed when larger plastics break down due to chemical or physical fragmentation. Microplastics have been detected in various animals, such as marine organisms and humans.
Within the human body, microplastics have been retrieved from blood, sputum, liver, heart, lungs, testes, endometrium, placenta, and amniotic fluid. Studies have also found microplastics in thrombi or blood clots. Given that thrombus formation has genetic and enviro.