“It's quite alarming”: microplastics found in human brains

Des microplastiques retrouvés dans des cerveaux humains

L'augmentation des concentrations mondiales de micro- et nanoplastiques environnementaux suscite des inquiétudes quant à l'exposition humaine et aux effets sur la santé. Alors que des traces de plastiques ont déjà été retrouvées dans divers organes, des chercheurs américains viennent d’en identifier dans des cerveaux humains.

A scientific study has just revealed a worrying discovery: the presence of plastic microparticles in human brain tissue. This research – conducted at the University of New Mexico – is part of a series of studies that have already highlighted the presence of these tiny particles, no larger than a grain of sand, in almost all organs of the human body: testicles, blood…

The team of researchers analyzed liver, kidney and brain samples from human cadavers. The results, still being validated, have nevertheless been shared by the National Institutes of Health in the United States. They show that brain tissue contains up to 20 times more plastics than other organs studied (mainly polyethylene).

In the brain, 0.5% plastic

Quoted by CNN, Matthew Campen, lead author of this work explains that "it’s quite alarming. There is much more plastic in our brains than I could have ever imagined. Compared to autopsied brain samples from 2016, it is about 50% more. The 2024 samples contained 0.5% plastic by weight“.

These results show that microplastics are accumulating in the human brain and that concentrations are increasing over time.

Although the long-term implications of this accumulation in the human body remain to be determined, previous studies have already shown that these particles can damage human cells. Thus, in the work that interests us, the scientists observed, without establishing a causal link, much more plastic in the brains of people who died from dementia than in healthy subjects.

Note: this discovery adds to a growing list of evidence of the omnipresence of microplastics in our environment. Previous studies have detected these particles in places as diverse as the Mediterranean Sea, on top of food.