Microplastics have been among the latest topics studied in recent years. Alongside the impacts of microplastic pollution on the environment, limited data are confirmed about its health effects.
Experts from the University of Eastern Finland conducted a recent study to understand the effects and potential benefits of nano-sized microplastics when they enter the human body.
Microplastics in Human Health
A volunteer of the NGO 'Canarias Libre de Plasticos' (Canary Islands free of plastics) carries out a collection of microplastics and mesoplastic debris to clean the Almaciga Beach, on the north coast of the Canary Island of Tenerife, on July 14, 2018.
Microplastics are mysterious compounds that could initiate adverse health effects. The problems, according to the experts, may have been coming from the plastic compounds or the natural toxins from the environment they collected and carried.
Most of the fat-soluble environmental toxins and other heavy metals are also observed to attach themselves to the surface of microscopic plastics.
With the set of problems that microplastics produce, it is essential to examine how they work when entering a human body. However, methods to study the tiny subjects are scarce and development for the potential devices to quantify their transport mechanisms is still far from complete success.
The lack of standardized methods is also the key factor that hinders any progress in microplastic research.
Due to the problem, the University of Eastern Finland developed a method to monitor and study the transport of nano-sized microplastics through molecular modeling. PhysOrg reported that the authors were able to analyze the behavior and displacement of the microplastic population in the human body.
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Nano-Sized Plastic Particles Can Penetrate Cell Membranes
Bilayer membranes were utilized along with the examination due to their adaptability to mimic cell membranes. Using the factors, the researchers were able to conduct simple molecular dynamic simulations with the assistance of commonly used particles called polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
The cell membrane permeability from a pulverized product of both PE and PET particles was examined through the use of Parallel Artificial Membrane Permeability Assay (PAMPA). In molecular studies, the PAMPA is usually used to examine the passive absorption of medicines but was not previously used in microplastic research.
PAMPA quantifies the amount of matter that a particular membrane permeates. To measure the plastics that permeate the artificial membrane, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR )spectroscopy is used under specified intervals.
Both of the experiments from PE and PET showed that the transport of the molecules is controlled exclusively by the variance of the membrane's wall and through the intermittent displacement due to heat.
The computer simulations carried out for the study presented that PR particles tend to select the center of the lipid membrane. The PAMPA experiments allowed the PE particles to partially permeate the membrane. However, the membrane permeability slowed down significantly throughout the process.
The PET particles used in the simulations also gave information regarding the status of the membrane. In this separate testing, the particles seemingly became part of the membrane and permeated the membrane perfectly.
The membrane structures showed no signs of implications whenever administered by individual plastic particles. With the approach they utilized, the authors opened a new gateway to perfecting the microplastic transport research and phagocytosis, transported proteins, and toxic effects of the nano-sized plastic bits to the human cells.
The study titled "PE and PET oligomers' interplay with membrane bilayers" was published in Scientific Reports.
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