Microplastics—polymeric particles smaller than 5 micrometers (µm)—can enter the bloodstream, where they are engulfed by immune cells, primarily neutrophils and macrophages, and can reach the brain, obstruct blood vessels, and cause neurological and behavioral changes (see Pesquisa FAPESP issue nº 347). Scientists from the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences and Peking University managed to track the path taken by fluorescent microplastics in the brains of awake mice. The 5 µm diameter particles reached the brain three hours after being ingested, diluted in water, by five mice. In another study, a team from the University of New Mexico, USA, examined tissue samples from 52 human bodies that underwent autopsies in 2016 and 2024. People who had been dead for a shorter time had more plastic particles than those who had been dead for longer (Science Advances, January 22; Nature Medicine, February 3).
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