Detection of microplastics in human lung tissue using μFTIR spectroscopy
Jenner LC, Rotchell JM, Bennett RT, Cowen M, Tentzeris V, Sadofsky LR (2022). Science of the Total Environment.
What they found
39 microplastics were found in 11 of 13 lung samples from living surgical patients: 1.42 per gram of tissue, or 0.69 per gram after subtracting background contamination. Polypropylene (23%) and PET (18%) were most common, and levels were highest in the lower lung.
- Sample
- 13 lung tissue samples from surgical patients
- What it can't tell you
- Small sample of patients having surgery for cancer or other lung disease. Blanks also contained particles, which is why the authors report adjusted and unadjusted values. Detection limit about 3 µm. No health outcomes.
- Funding
- University of Hull, per Crossref
- Topics
- In the body, Air and dust
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 35364151); methods details from open-access PDF as checked for our article