Doctors Find Evidence Microplastics Are Clogging Arteries, Leading to Heart Attacks and Strokes
microplastics everywhereincluding ours arteries. And although their presence there is associated with those below cardiovascular problems In cases such as heart attacks and strokes, doctors are eager to learn more about how they navigate the disease process.
To that end, a team of scientists led by the University of California, Riverside (UCR) fed microplastics to laboratory mice and discovered that these insidious particles significantly increased the buildup of plaque, known as plaque buildup. atherosclerosis in the arteries – but interestingly only in male mice; new study published in the magazine Environment International.
When they analyzed the clogged arteries of these male mice, they found that microplastics led to changes in cells that worsened blood vessels, triggering genes to activate the formation of plaque lesions. This is terrible news for anyone trying to maintain heart health, as these ubiquitous particles appear to be sabotaging a vital organ system.
“Our study provides some of the strongest evidence yet that microplastics may directly contribute to cardiovascular disease,” said Changcheng Zhou, principal investigator of the study and professor of biomedical sciences at the UCR School of Medicine. statement about the research. “Although the exact mechanism is not yet known, factors such as sex chromosomes and hormones may play a role, especially the protective effects of estrogen.”
For the study, the team took laboratory mice bred to be prone to developing atherosclerosis and then put them on a low-cholesterol, low-fat diet for nine weeks; In addition, he was fed 10 milligrams of microplastic per kilogram of body weight; Scientists uncovered this rate of microplastic because they determined it was at “environmentally acceptable levels and similar to levels that humans may encounter through contaminated food and water.”
While the mice maintained their lean figures during this diet, the extra helping of microplastics appeared to have no effect on their total cholesterol. But scientists noticed that male mice experienced a 63 percent increase in plaque buildup in the aortic root (the first part of the aorta); An enormous plaque accumulation of 624 percent was observed in the brachiocephalic artery, another important vessel that supplies blood to the head and heart. There was no significant accumulation in female mice.
In addition, scientists performed genetic analysis on the aorta of these male mice and found that microplastics activated certain genes that promote the growth of plaque lesions in the endothelial cells lining the insides of blood vessels. They also exposed cultured human endothelial cells to microplastics and observed the same phenomenon.
“We found that the cells most affected by microplastic exposure are endothelial cells,” Zhou said in his statement. “Since endothelial cells are the first to encounter circulating microplastics, their dysfunction can initiate inflammation and plaque formation.”
These findings, combined with the fact that the mice were not fatty or had high cholesterol, typical risk factors for atherosclerosis, led the scientists to conclude that chemicals in microplastics were responsible for the increased plaque in these important blood vessels.
Besides the significance of the findings for the scientific community, they also raise some important questions for the rest of us. Microplastics are actually everywhere; How can we avoid them?
Unfortunately, there is currently no way to get rid of microplastics in humans. All you can really do instead is avoid single-use plasticshighly processed foods, do not heat foods in plastic containers, and Avoid bottled water.
Meanwhile, this team of researchers is already talking about next steps beyond this study.
“We want to investigate how different types or sizes of microplastics affect vascular cells,” Zhou said. “We will also examine the molecular mechanisms behind endothelial dysfunction and explore how microplastics affect male and female arteries differently. As microplastic pollution continues to increase worldwide, understanding its effects on human health, including heart disease, becomes more urgent than ever.”
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