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Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting

Environmental pollution with microplastics (MPs) is a major and worldwide concern. Involuntary exposure to MPs by ingestion or inhalation is unavoidable. The effects on human health are still under debate, while in animals, cellular MP translocation and subsequent deleterious effects were shown. Fir...

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Autores principales: Braun, Thorsten, Ehrlich, Loreen, Henrich, Wolfgang, Koeppel, Sebastian, Lomako, Ievgeniia, Schwabl, Philipp, Liebmann, Bettina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8308544/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34206212
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13070921
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author Braun, Thorsten
Ehrlich, Loreen
Henrich, Wolfgang
Koeppel, Sebastian
Lomako, Ievgeniia
Schwabl, Philipp
Liebmann, Bettina
author_facet Braun, Thorsten
Ehrlich, Loreen
Henrich, Wolfgang
Koeppel, Sebastian
Lomako, Ievgeniia
Schwabl, Philipp
Liebmann, Bettina
author_sort Braun, Thorsten
collection PubMed
description Environmental pollution with microplastics (MPs) is a major and worldwide concern. Involuntary exposure to MPs by ingestion or inhalation is unavoidable. The effects on human health are still under debate, while in animals, cellular MP translocation and subsequent deleterious effects were shown. First reports indicate a potential intrauterine exposure with MPs, yet readouts are prone to contamination. Method: To establish a thorough protocol for the detection of MPs in human placenta and fetal meconium in a real-life clinical setting, a pilot study was set up to screen for MPs > 50 µm in placental tissue and meconium sampled during two cesarean sections for breech deliveries. After chemical digestion of non-plastic material, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy was used to analyze the presence of 10 common types of microplastic in placenta and stool samples. Results: Human placenta and meconium samples were screened positive for polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyurethane, of which only the latter one was also detected as airborne fallout in the operating room—thus representing potential contamination. Conclusion: We found MPs > 50 µm in placenta and meconium acquired from cesarean delivery. Critical evaluation of potential contamination sources is pivotal and may guide future clinical studies to improve the correct detection of MPs in organ tissue. Studies investigating nano-sized plastics in human tissue are warranted.
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spelling pubmed-83085442021-07-25 Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting Braun, Thorsten Ehrlich, Loreen Henrich, Wolfgang Koeppel, Sebastian Lomako, Ievgeniia Schwabl, Philipp Liebmann, Bettina Pharmaceutics Article Environmental pollution with microplastics (MPs) is a major and worldwide concern. Involuntary exposure to MPs by ingestion or inhalation is unavoidable. The effects on human health are still under debate, while in animals, cellular MP translocation and subsequent deleterious effects were shown. First reports indicate a potential intrauterine exposure with MPs, yet readouts are prone to contamination. Method: To establish a thorough protocol for the detection of MPs in human placenta and fetal meconium in a real-life clinical setting, a pilot study was set up to screen for MPs > 50 µm in placental tissue and meconium sampled during two cesarean sections for breech deliveries. After chemical digestion of non-plastic material, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy was used to analyze the presence of 10 common types of microplastic in placenta and stool samples. Results: Human placenta and meconium samples were screened positive for polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyurethane, of which only the latter one was also detected as airborne fallout in the operating room—thus representing potential contamination. Conclusion: We found MPs > 50 µm in placenta and meconium acquired from cesarean delivery. Critical evaluation of potential contamination sources is pivotal and may guide future clinical studies to improve the correct detection of MPs in organ tissue. Studies investigating nano-sized plastics in human tissue are warranted. MDPI 2021-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8308544/ /pubmed/34206212 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13070921 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Braun, Thorsten
Ehrlich, Loreen
Henrich, Wolfgang
Koeppel, Sebastian
Lomako, Ievgeniia
Schwabl, Philipp
Liebmann, Bettina
Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting
title Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting
title_full Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting
title_fullStr Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting
title_full_unstemmed Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting
title_short Detection of Microplastic in Human Placenta and Meconium in a Clinical Setting
title_sort detection of microplastic in human placenta and meconium in a clinical setting
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8308544/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34206212
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13070921
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