We're hearing a lot about microplastics — those teeny pieces of plastic that have become so ubiquitous in our water, air and soil that they can now be found in human blood. These minuscule pieces of plastic are the product of broken-down waste because plastic does not biodegrade like other materials. Plastics make up a bulk of our packaging, toys, cars, toiletries and building materials; the list goes on and on.
What's more, plastics are made up of numerous toxins and chemicals that, when broken down, seep into every aspect of our lives. But how do they actually get into our bodies?
How Microplastics Enter the Human Body
In a new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, researchers explore how microplastics enter our blood at the molecular level. For this research, scientists focused on polystyrene plastics, which are most often used in food packaging, and nanotubes used in sporting goods, coatings and electronics.
They found that microplastics likely enter the human body via diet and inhalation before being engulfed by macrophages, a white blood cell that surrounds and kills foreign materials as part of your body's immune response. A receptor found on macrophages known as TIM4 binds to the microplastics in an effort to break them down.
