Expert team from Shenzhen People's Hospital completed a research project, adding new evidence to the cardiovascular hazards of microplastics

Source: China Food NewsMicroplastics that penetrate through every pore can invade human systems such as circulation, digestion, respiration, and reproduction, leading to imperceptible adverse consequences. A research project completed by a team of cardiologists from Shenzhen People's Hospital on the toxic effects of exposure to polystyrene microplastics on blood vessels has for the first time confirmed that microplastics can induce chronic inflammatory reactions in the body, leading to the occurrence and development of vascular calcification

Source: China Food News

Microplastics that penetrate through every pore can invade human systems such as circulation, digestion, respiration, and reproduction, leading to imperceptible adverse consequences. A research project completed by a team of cardiologists from Shenzhen People's Hospital on the toxic effects of exposure to polystyrene microplastics on blood vessels has for the first time confirmed that microplastics can induce chronic inflammatory reactions in the body, leading to the occurrence and development of vascular calcification. The relevant academic articles have recently been published in the international professional journal "Overall Environmental Science", providing a new basis for people to understand the "true face" of microplastics.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, plastic products have been widely used in various fields, and the annual consumption has been increasing exponentially. If not controlled, it is expected that the global plastic production will increase by another 33 billion tons by 2050. While bringing great convenience to the public's daily life, these plastics are also continuously posing a huge threat to the ecological environment and human health. Scientists have found that plastic gradually decomposes into fragmented, granular, filamentous, and fibrous forms through processes such as mechanical action, biodegradation, photodegradation, and photooxidation degradation, forming microplastics with particle sizes less than 5 millimeters, which then spread to the oceans, freshwater, soil, and air on which humans rely for survival. When microplastics are swallowed by marine and terrestrial organisms, they spread along the biological chain and can even be detected in the human placenta, blood, heart, feces, and sputum.

Among them, polystyrene is one of the most common microplastic components, and it has become the main "role" in food packaging and disposable plastic tableware. Currently, more and more research results have shown that polystyrene has significant toxic effects on various systems of experimental animals such as fish and mice through different exposure pathways. Taking vascular calcification as an example, this serious cardiovascular problem can lead to reduced vascular compliance, arterial wall thickening, luminal stenosis, plaque instability, and plaque rupture, ultimately triggering a series of cardiovascular diseases and adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. However, little is known about the potential risk factors and mechanisms of polystyrene microplastic particles on vascular calcification, which remains a mystery to be solved.

With the support of multiple national and provincial scientific research funds, a research group composed of cardiologists Dong Shaohong, Yin Da, Sun Xin, and medical doctor Yan Jianlong from Shenzhen People's Hospital conducted in-depth exploration. They found in their research that there are varying degrees of microplastic polymers present in the feces of patients with vascular calcification, including polystyrene, polyethylene, polyester fiber, polypropylene, polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyacrylamide. The top three are polystyrene, polyethylene, and polyester fiber, accounting for 42.4%, 16.3%, and 15.7%, respectively; And it was found that the source of fecal microplastics is closely related to factors such as drinking bottled water, takeaway food, and exposure to dusty work environments; It was also found that polystyrene has a certain correlation with vascular calcification.

In order to further verify the relationship between polystyrene microplastics and vascular calcification, the research team added polystyrene microplastics particles to drinking water and gave them to normal rats and rats induced by vitamin D and nicotine for free consumption. The results showed that polystyrene microplastics particles caused slight calcification in both the heart and aortic vessels of normal rats, and significantly exacerbated the calcification of the heart and blood vessels induced by nicotine in rats. At the same time, in order to clarify the interference of polystyrene microplastic particles on the gut microbiota, researchers also conducted gene sequencing on the structure and abundance of the gut microbiota. The results showed that exposure to polystyrene microplastic particles can cause a decrease in the abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. The first author of this paper, Yan Jianlong, explained that Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes are the dominant phyla that mainly produce short chain fatty acids. When the intestinal short chain fatty acids are reduced, it is not conducive to the growth of beneficial bacteria, but instead promotes the proliferation of harmful bacteria, causing the balance of the intestinal microbiota to be completely disrupted.

So, how can we reduce the intake of microplastics in daily life? Yan Jianlong stated that the harm of microplastics to health in the diet cannot be ignored, and it is necessary to establish a awareness of "preventing 'microplastics' from spreading, and strive to pay attention to the following points: first, try to use as little or no disposable plastic products as possible; The second is to drink less plastic bottled water. In households, filter devices can be used to treat tap water, and plastic products are not used to hold oil, wine, vinegar, etc; Thirdly, do not consume the gastrointestinal, visceral, and gill parts of poultry, animal husbandry, and seafood, which are prone to storing microplastics; Fourthly, it is not recommended to use plastic cutting boards to treat raw meat, vegetables, and fruits.(Yi Xiaofeng, Gao Wei, Yan Jianlong, Sun Xin)

This article is from China Food News and only represents the author's viewpoint. The National Party Media Information Public Platform provides information dissemination and dissemination services.

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