From the food we eat to the air we breathe, microplastics and their even smaller equivalent — nanoplastics — are just about everywhere. And while the body may expel some of the plastics we’ve consumed, there are still plenty that linger in our blood and organs, leading to other health issues.
Recent research, as part of the FFG bridge project Nano-VISION, uses a new sensor platform that allows for a laser to be shone at clear, bodily fluids. Through this process, researchers can now determine the size of nanoplastics in bodily fluids along with their chemical makeup.
With this new technology, the team hopes to one day determine if intraocular lenses — surgically implanted permanent lenses that replace the natural eye lens after cataract surgery — may contribute to nanoplastics in the body.
Harald Fitzek from the Institute of Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), ...
