New research shows how microplastics and water interactions could lead to cell damage - Los Angeles Times
Scientists have found microplastics in virtually every part of the human body. Yet many questions remain about what exactly these infinitesimal flecks of synthetic polymers do to human health, and how they might cause disease. A new paper looking at the chemical reactions between water and disintegrating plastic offers a potential hypothesis for how microplastics might make us sick. Plastics were long thought to be chemically inert, meaning they don’t react easily with other compounds. It’s the reason they are often used for packaging, and why they so stubbornly resist biodegradation. But a Columbia University research team has found that when water molecules come into contact with plastic surfaces, a key chemical reaction does in fact take place. The meeting of water and plastic creates a third class of molecules called reactive oxygen species. ROS are a type of free radical, a broad term for one class of unstable, high-energy molecules. ROS are known to damage cells and promote inflammation. They “tend to damage nearby materials and molecules,” said Wei Min, a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at Columbia and co-author of the study.
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