College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
Wuxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuxi 214023, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 15;856(Pt 1):159060. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159060. Epub 2022 Sep 26.
Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment, including in food and drinking water. Consequently, there is growing concern about the human health risks associated with microplastic exposure through diet. However, the occurrence of microplastics in the human body, particularly in mothers and fetuses, is incompletely understood because of the limited amount of data on their presence in the body and the human placenta. This study evaluated the presence and characteristics of microplastics in 17 placentas using laser direct infrared (LD-IR) spectroscopy. Microplastics were detected in all placenta samples, with an average abundance of 2.70 ± 2.65 particles/g and a range of 0.28 to 9.55 particles/g. Among these microplastics, 11 polymer types were identified. The microplastics were mainly composed of polyvinyl chloride (PVC, 43.27 %), polypropylene (PP, 14.55 %), and polybutylene succinate (PBS, 10.90 %). The sizes of these microplastics ranged from 20.34 to 307.29 μm, and most (80.29 %) were smaller than 100 μm. Most of the smaller microplastics were fragments, but fibers dominated the larger microplastics (200-307.29 μm). Interestingly, the majority of PVC and PP were smaller than 200 μm. This study provides a clearer understanding of the shape, size, and nature of microplastics in the human placenta. Importantly, these data also provide crucial information for performing risk assessments of the exposure of fetuses to microplastics in the future.
微塑料在环境中无处不在，包括在食物和饮用水中。因此，人们越来越关注通过饮食接触微塑料带来的人类健康风险。然而，由于体内微塑料存在的数据有限，以及对人体胎盘内微塑料的存在情况了解有限，人体中微塑料的出现情况，特别是在母亲和胎儿体内的情况，还不完全清楚。本研究使用激光直接红外（LD-IR）光谱法评估了 17 个胎盘样本中微塑料的存在和特征。所有胎盘样本中均检测到微塑料，平均丰度为 2.70±2.65 个/克，范围为 0.28 至 9.55 个/克。在这些微塑料中，鉴定出 11 种聚合物类型。微塑料主要由聚氯乙烯（PVC，43.27%）、聚丙烯（PP，14.55%）和聚丁二酸丁二醇酯（PBS，10.90%）组成。这些微塑料的尺寸范围从 20.34 至 307.29 μm，大多数（80.29%）小于 100 μm。大多数较小的微塑料为碎片，但较大的微塑料（200-307.29 μm）以纤维为主。有趣的是，大多数 PVC 和 PP 小于 200 μm。本研究更清楚地了解了人类胎盘内微塑料的形状、尺寸和性质。重要的是，这些数据还为未来评估胎儿接触微塑料的风险提供了关键信息。
