"Presence of airborne microplastics in human lung tissue," was published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials in 2021 by Amato-Lourenço and colleagues. In a 2021 study titled "Presence of airborne microplastics in human lung tissue," researchers at the University of São Paulo examined 20 human lung samples and detected microplastics in 13 of them, with polypropylene and polyethylene being the most common polymers. The findings offered some of the first direct evidence that inhaled plastic particles accumulate deep within the human respiratory system, raising serious questions about the long term health effects of airborne plastic pollution.
Citation
Amato-Lourenço, L.F., Carvalho-Oliveira, R., Ribeiro Júnior, G., dos Santos Galvão, L., Ando, R.A., & Mauad, T. (2021). "Presence of airborne microplastics in human lung tissue." Journal of Hazardous Materials, 416, 126124. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126124.
Why it matters
It was one of the first studies to directly detect and chemically characterize microplastics in human lung tissue taken from living, non-cancerous specimens, establishing that inhaled plastic particles accumulate deep in the respiratory system.
What they did and found
The team from the University of São Paulo analyzed 20 lung tissue samples collected during routine autopsies of adults in São Paulo, Brazil, and used Raman spectroscopy to identify the particles. Microplastics were found in 13 of the 20 samples. The particles were small, with the polymeric fragments ranging from roughly 1.60 to 5.56 micrometers, alongside a smaller number of fibers that were larger. The most common polymer types identified were polypropylene and polyethylene, both extremely widespread in everyday consumer plastics and packaging. The authors concluded that microplastics are a ubiquitous airborne contaminant capable of reaching and lodging in lung tissue, raising questions about long-term respiratory and health effects.
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Sources: PubMed record, Journal of Hazardous Materials via ScienceDirect, Beyond Plastics summary, Archivos de Bronconeumología editorial