Microplastics detected in cirrhotic liver tissue
Horvatits T, Tamminga M, Liu B, Sebode M, Carambia A, Fischer L, Püschel K, Huber S, Fischer EK (2022). eBioMedicine.
What they found
Using Nile red staining and Raman spectroscopy, microplastics of 4–30 µm (six polymer types) were found in liver tissue from all six people with cirrhosis, while liver, kidney and spleen from people without liver disease tested negative.
- Sample
- 6 patients with cirrhosis, 5 without liver disease (17 tissue samples)
- What it can't tell you
- Proof-of-concept case series of 11 people. Cannot tell whether plastic contributes to cirrhosis or whether diseased livers simply trap more particles. Only particles 4–30 µm were detected.
- Funding
- No funding received (investigator-driven study), per the paper's Funding statement
- Topics
- In the body, Health effects
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 35835713, PMC9386716); Crossref shows no corrections