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Microplastics are particles ranging from 1 micrometer to 5 millimeters in diameter, and nanoplastics, which are even smaller, are found in virtually every environment on Earth, from mountain peaks to ocean depths, and from the smallest animals in the food chain to human brain cells.

These particles can originate from the breakdown of larger plastic items or be intentionally manufactured for use in products, such as cosmetics, synthetic fabrics, and pharmaceuticals. Recent studies suggest that the human brain may contain up to a teaspoon of microplastics and nanoplastics, with the tiniest fragments primarily composed of polyethylene, the same material commonly used in plastic bags and food packaging.

These particles have been detected in areas such as the walls of blood vessels in the brain and within immune cells. However, it remains unclear whether microplastics contribute to the progression of neurological diseases or whether these conditions render the brain more susceptible to particle infiltration. In animal studies involving fish and rodents, prolonged exposure to nanoplastics has been linked to memory impairment, brain inflammation, and alterations in synaptic protein levels.

Beyond the brain, microplastics have been found in human feces, arterial plaques, and even the placenta. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine linked the presence of microplastics in the arteries to a heightened risk for heart attack, stroke, and overall mortality.

Therapeutic Apheresis

According to a preliminary study published in Brain Medicine by researchers at Technische Universität Dresden in Dresden, Germany, therapeutic apheresis, a medical procedure that filters tiny particles from the blood, may help remove microplastics from the human body. The technique can capture particles as small as 200 nanometers, which is approximately 5000 times smaller than a millimeter.

In this study, the researchers evaluated the procedure in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. They analyzed the waste fluid discarded during apheresis using a specialized infrared spectroscopy technique.

The analysis detected substances that matched the chemical signatures of polyamide and polyurethane, two common types of industrial plastics. This suggests that microplastics may have been successfully removed from the blood of patients during the procedure.

Notably, this study did not measure the total amount of microplastics removed or compare their levels in patients before and after apheresis. What has been demonstrated so far is the presence of microplastics in the waste material discarded by the device — an observation that suggests, but does not yet confirm, the effective removal of these substances from the human body.

Researchers have cautioned that the detected materials may reflect chemical structures common to proteins, meaning that further analysis is required to verify the exact nature of the removed particles. Nonetheless, the findings offer hope to researchers seeking to address the growing accumulation of microplastics in the human body.

The authors recommended conducting studies with larger groups and quantitative analyses comparing the levels of microplastics in the blood before and after the procedures. The authors concluded that “such analyses will help determine particle removal from blood and tissues and assess correlations with symptom improvement in conditions like myalgia encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.”

Alternative Approaches

Currently, evidence that microplastics are effectively removed from the human body after ingestion is limited.

A 2011 study examined bisphenol A (BPA) levels in blood, sweat, and urine samples from 20 individuals. In 16 cases, BPA appeared only in sweat, suggesting that induced perspiration may help eliminate certain compounds from the body. However, more studies are needed to assess its long-term safety and efficacy.

“That is why we focus on reducing exposure to microplastics in the first place,” said Nicholas Fabiano, MD, a psychiatry resident at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and co-author of a related article in Brain Medicine.

The challenge of this research began with tracking the effects of microplastic particles. “From a clinical perspective, it is very difficult to establish a direct link between exposure to microplastics and adverse health outcomes,” said Fabiano.

To address this, he advocated the creation of new tools to measure dietary risks, such as a dietary microplastic index. “We propose the development of a Dietary Microplastic Index that could be integrated with existing dietary risk assessment tools to estimate microplastic exposure based on the types of food consumed,” he said.

This story was translated from Medscape’s Portuguese edition. 

As brain tumors grow, they must do one of two things: push against the brain or use finger-like extensions to invade and destroy surrounding tissue.

Previous research found tumors that push – or put mechanical force on the brain – cause more neurological dysfunction than tumors that destroy tissue. But what else can these different tactics of tumor growth tell us?

Now, the same team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, and Boston University has developed a technique for measuring a brain tumor’s mechanical force and a new model to estimate how much brain tissue a patient has lost. Published in Clinical Cancer Research, the study explains how these measurements may help inform patient care and be adopted into surgeons’ daily workflow.

During brain tumor removal surgery, neurosurgeons take a slice of the tumor, put it on a slide and send it to a pathologist in real-time to confirm what type of tumor it is. Tumors that originally arise in the brain, like glioblastoma, are prescribed different treatments than tumors that metastasize to the brain from other organs like lung or breast, so these differences inform post-surgical care. By adding a two-minute step to a surgeon’s procedure, we were able to distinguish between a glioblastoma tumor versus a metastatic tumor based on mechanical force alone.” 

Meenal Datta, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Notre Dame and co-lead author of the study

Datta and collaborators collected data from 30 patients’ preoperative MRIs and their craniotomies, which include exposing the brain and using Brainlab neuronavigation technology. This technology provides surgeons with real-time, 3D visualization during brain surgeries and is considered commonly available for neurological procedures. Neurosurgeons can use this technique to measure the bulge caused by brain swelling from the tumor’s mechanical forces before the tumor is resected.

Then this patient data was used to determine whether brain tissue was displaced by a tumor’s mechanical force or replaced by a tumor. The researchers found that when there is more mechanical force on the brain (displacement), the swelling will be more substantial. But when a tumor invades and destroys surrounding tissue (replacement), the swelling will be less significant.

The researchers created computational models based on a point system of measurements and biomechanical modeling that can be employed by doctors to measure a patient’s brain bulge, to determine the mechanical force that was being exerted by the tumor, and to determine the amount of brain tissue lost in each patient.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and various cancer research foundations, this study is among the first to show how mechanics can distinguish between tumor types.

“Knowing the mechanical force of a tumor can be useful to a clinician because it could inform patient strategies to alleviate symptoms. Sometimes patients receive steroids to reduce brain swelling, or antipsychotic agents to counter neurological effects of tumors,” said Datta, an affiliate of Notre Dame’s Harper Cancer Research Institute. Datta recently showed that even affordable and widely used blood pressure medications can counter these effects. “We’re hoping this measurement becomes even more relevant and that it can help predict outcomes of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.”

To get a better idea of what else mechanical force could indicate, the research team used animal modeling of three different brain tumors: breast cancer metastasis to the brain, glioblastoma and childhood ependymoma.

In the breast cancer metastasis tumor, researchers used a form of chemotherapy that is known to work in reducing metastasis brain tumor size. While waiting for the tumor to respond to the chemotherapy, the team found that a reduction in mechanical force changed before the tumor size was shown to change in imaging.

“In this model, we showed that mechanical force is a more sensitive readout of chemotherapy response than tumor size,” Datta said. “Mechanics are sort of disease-agnostic in that they can matter regardless of what tumor you are looking at.”

Datta hopes that doctors employ the patient models from the study to continue to grow the field’s understanding of how mechanical force can improve patient care management.

In addition to Datta, co-lead authors include Hadi T. Nia at Boston University, Ashwin S. Kumar at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Saeed Siri at Notre Dame. Other collaborators include Gino B. Ferraro, Sampurna Chatterjee, Jeffrey M. McHugh, Patrick R. Ng, Timothy R. West, Otto Rapalino, Bryan D. Choi, Brian V. Nahed, Lance L. Munn and Rakesh K. Jain, all at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Datta is also affiliated with Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health, the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, NDnano, the Warren Center for Drug Discovery, the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society and the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare Diseases. She is also a concurrent faculty member in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a faculty adviser for Notre Dame’s graduate programs in bioengineering and materials science and engineering.