Search Results (2)

The widespread presence of nanoplastics (NPs) in the environment creates a significant and growing concern for global health, with ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact identified as primary exposure pathways. Despite their documented presence in various environmental matrices and human tissues, robust quantitative data on NP levels remains scarce. This study addresses this critical gap by employing a novel and rapid flow cytometry technique to quantify nanoplastic concentrations in commercial waters, common beverages and infant food, with special focus in packaging influence. Pyrogen-free water was analyzed to establish the negative control for NP concentration, yielding 5.24 ± 2.02 events/µL. Ten commercial waters from natural springs in Spain and France showed NP levels ranging from 1.75 NP/µL to 67.94 NP/µL (mean: 19.90 ± 14.53 NP/µL), where three of those brands showed significantly higher NP numbers than the pyrogen-free water control. Compared to pyrogen-free water, infant formula and cereal porridge showed very low NP concentrations, with values of 10.27 ± 6.85 and 6.78 ± 2.27 events/µL, respectively, following triplicate analyses of six samples. Additional analyses comparing three similar soft drinks across different packaging (can, plastic bottle, or glass bottle) found no significant differences in NP concentration attributable to the container type. NPs, as ubiquitous contaminants, can be ingested by organisms through food and drink. Potential NP contamination in commercial water may be due to factors such as source water contamination, filtration and packaging. The presence of very low concentrations of NPs in infant foods suggests rigorous and effective quality control. Finally, the presence of NP in soft drinks was not affected by the type of packaging. Although soft drinks have higher NP levels than water, the type of packaging had no effect on the presence of NP in these soft drinks. Despite all plastic bottles being made of polyethylene terephthalate, variation in NP accumulation implies that material quality, storage condition, and substantially, water treatment and filtering processes contribute to NP contamination. This research gives evidence for widespread nanoplastic accumulation in bottled water, common beverages and infant formula and sets the stage for demanding research to further investigate sources, health effects, and development into effective quality control and preventive measures for public health. Full article

Nanoplastics (NPs) and microplastics (MPs) are an emerging threat to global health. They negatively impact ecosystems and many physiological processes, causing alterations in xenobiotic metabolism, nutrient uptake, energy metabolism, or cytotoxicity. In humans, we are beginning to analyze these plastics for the mechanisms by which they enter the organism, accumulate, and diffuse as well as for their pathogenic potential. NP accumulation has been demonstrated in human tissues, such as blood or placenta, while in others it remains largely unstudied. In this work, we detected NP accumulation in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs), cerebrospinal fluids (CSFs), lymph nodes (LNs), urine, pleural fluids (PFs), ascitic fluids (AFs), and peripheral blood (PB) by combining fluorescence and nanocytometry techniques. NP analysis was compared with two strains of mice, and the results support that inhalation is the main route of NP accumulation. Full article