February 26, 2024 – Researchers studying human placentas for evidence of microplastics found measurable amounts in each placenta.
The Results were published within the magazine this month Toxicological Sciences. For the study, researchers used a technology called saponification of donated placental tissue, which works in an analogous approach to making soap. The samples were then spun using an ultracentrifuge, a tool that may rotate at as much as 150,000 revolutions per minute. After the spin, a tiny plastic bead was left behind, which was then heated until the plastic's gas emissions could possibly be analyzed to find out what form of plastic it was.
“The gas emission enters a mass spectrometer and provides a specific fingerprint. It's really cool,” said lead researcher Matthew Campen, PhD, a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of New Mexico, in one opinion.
Nearly every one of the 62 samples analyzed showed evidence of polyethylene, a chemical compound used to make plastic. It is often used in packaging. Polyvinyl chloride (often referred to as PVC) and nylon were also common.
The authors said the amount of microplastics they found varied greatly from one placental tissue sample to another and that there were “surprisingly high levels in some samples.” The discrepancy could be due to errors despite extensive measures to ensure accuracy, they wrote.
“The other potential is that range is real and determined by a combination of environmental, nutritional, genetic, maternal age and lifestyle factors,” they continued, noting that other early studies have suggested the chance that the tiny plastics could contribute to restricting fetal growth.
The placenta provides oxygen and nutrients to a baby while pregnant within the uterus.
The researchers said their results were particularly necessary because they showed that it was possible to accurately estimate the mass of plastics in human tissue. Scientists and medical researchers are working hard to raised understand the results of microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics on human health.
“This method, coupled with clinical metadata, will be crucial for assessing potential impacts [nanoplastics and microplastics] to adverse pregnancy outcomes,” the authors wrote.