An Italian study has provided evidence for the first time that ingested or inhaled microplastics and nanoplastics can lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases in humans. The paper published in the prestigious journal The New England Journal of Medicine is the result of work coordinated by Professor Giuseppe Paolisso of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” in collaboration with numerous Italian and foreign research bodies, including Harvard Medical School in Boston, the IRCSS Multimedica Milan, the Polytechnic Universities of the Marche ( UnivPM), Sapienza and Salerno, and the IRCSS INRCA of Ancona.
The presence of micro and nanoplastics in human atherosclerotic plaques highlights the danger of these pollutants for human health.
I study
Micro- and nanoplastics also attack the heart with harmful effects that are hitherto unknown and never seen before. After having found them in humans in various organs and tissues, including the placenta, breast milk, liver and lungs, including cardiac tissues, the Italian study reveals, for the first time, their presence even in atherosclerotic plaques, deposits of fat in the arteries dangerous for the heart and above all provides unprecedented proof of their danger.
In fact, the data collected shows that atherosclerotic plaques “due to pollution” are also more inflamed than normal, therefore, more friable and exposed to the risk of rupture with at least a 2-fold higher increase in the risk of heart attacks, strokes and mortality compared to atherosclerotic plaques which are not polluted by nano-plastic.
The study demonstrates how atherosclerotic plaques often contain micro and nanoplastics based on polyethylene (PE, detected in 58.4% of cases) or polyvinyl chloride (or PVC, identified in 12.5% of cases), two of the most widely consumed plastic compounds in the world, used to make products ranging from containers to coatings, from plasticized films to building materials.
The study was conducted on 257 patients over 65 years old who underwent endarterectomy for asymptomatic carotid stenosis. During this procedure, the atherosclerotic plaques were removed and subsequently analyzed with chemical methods for quantification and with an electron microscope with an innovative technique based on X-ray spectrometry for localization. Laura Graciotti and Gianluca Fulgenzi, researchers from the Polytechnic University of Marche UnivPM, have for the first time uniquely identified the presence of micro- and nanoplastics by locating them within atherosclerotic plaques.
“The IRCSS INRCA of Ancona – declares Professor Fabiola Olivieri, Scientific Director and full professor of General and Clinical Pathology at the Department of Clinical and Molecular Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery UnivPM – has long been involved in studying the role of inflammation in the aging process and in the development of the most common age-associated pathologies, including cerebral and cardiovascular pathologies. When inflammatory processes become chronic and therefore persist over time, they can have deleterious effects on human health. This study highlights for the first time as derivatives of plastics they can be identified in atherosclerotic plaques which thus become more fragile, and by breaking, can more easily cause myocardial infarctions and strokes. The research was conducted on a population over 65 years old, such as the one we see every day at the IRCSS INRCA of Ancona”.
Microplastics reach every organ in the body in 3 weeks