Micro- and nanoplastics (MNP) can even be detected in the carotid arteries of atherosclerosis patients. Researchers from Salzburg have now discovered this as part of a study.
This could lead to an increase in acute cardiovascular diseases, the researchers report in the medical journal ‘Cardio News’. Microplastics are plastic particles with a diameter of less than five millimeters. Nanoplastic refers to particles with a size between one and 1000 nanometers (0.001 millimeters, note).
“We ingest microplastics every day: through inhalation, skin contact, through the mucous membranes on the surface of the eyes or through the consumption of contaminated food. It is believed that people ingest approximately a quarter of a kilo of microplastics in this way every year,” wrote Salzburg cardiologist Friedrich Hoppichler (Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy) and health psychologist Julia Schatzer from the Special Institute for Preventive Cardiology and Nutrition. (SIPCAN) in Salzburg.
Risk factor for cardiovascular disease
The particles reach many tissues via the bloodstream. Microplastics have also been discovered in heart muscle tissue. Animal models have shown that exposure to micro/nanoplasts (MNPs) appears to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the experts pointed out.
Italian internist Raffaele Marfella of the University of Naples and co-authors recently found evidence of micro- and nanoplastics in the atherosclerosis plaques of patients who underwent at least 70 percent carotid artery stenosis, according to Hoppichler and Schatzer.
In 257 study participants between the ages of 18 and 75 who underwent surgery to remove plaques, polyethylene was detected in 58 percent of tissue samples. “PVC (polyvinyl chloride) was also found in 31 of them (12.1 percent), the Austrian experts reported.
The risk is 4.5 times higher
The crux: Acute cardiovascular disease (non-fatal stroke or non-fatal heart attack or death) occurred in eight of the 107 patients (7.5 percent). In an observation period of 33.7 months on average, no MNPs were detected in the resected patients. atherosclerosis plaques. However, in the group of those examined with micro/nanoplast detection in the carotid artery, 30 out of 150 had such an acute event (20 percent). Among them, the risk was 4.5 times greater.
No causal evidence is yet available
This is not yet causal evidence for the link between micro- and nanoplastics in plaques, such as those that occur in ‘vascular calcification’. But this could be clarified in further research. One hypothesis, according to Hoppichler and Julia Schatzer: MNPs apparently have inflammatory properties.
However, chronic subthreshold inflammation is a recognized risk factor for atherosclerosis and the resulting plaques in the arteries, which, if suddenly ruptured, can lead to thrombus formation and thus to heart attacks, strokes, etc.
Source: Krone
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