Microplastics detected in human bone marrow; study examines health impacts

In this file photo, a doctor displays an X-Ray of a fractured wrist at the Holland Orthopaedic & Arthritic Centre in Toronto Wednesday, January 20, 2010. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese)

Microplastics have been detected deep inside human bones and could be harming our health, according to a new study.

Published this month in the journal Osteoporosis International, the study analyzed existing scientific literature to better understand the effects of microplastics once they enter bones via the bloodstream.

“For example, in vitro studies with bone tissue cells have shown that microplastics impair cell viability, accelerate cell aging, and alter cell differentiation, in addition to promoting inflammation,” lead author and medical professor Dr. Rodrigo Bueno de Oliveira said in a news release.

“Most strikingly, a significant body of research suggests that microplastics can reach deep into bone tissue, such as bone marrow, and potentially cause disturbances in its metabolism.”

Oliveira is the co-ordinator of the Laboratory for Mineral and Bone Studies in Nephrology at the State University of Campinas in Brazil. He notes that in animal studies, microplastics have also been linked to conditions lead to bone weakening, bone deformities and increased risk of fractures.

“In this study, the adverse effects observed culminated, worryingly, in the interruption of the animals’ skeletal growth,” Oliveira said.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic debris that can come from industrial waste or the disposal and breakdown of a wide range of consumer products, like furniture, clothing, toys and eating utensils.

Increasingly found across different environments, microplastics can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. They have been detected in both animals and humans, including in blood, the brain, the placenta and breast milk, and have also been linked to various cancers, respiratory disorders and inflammatory bowel disease.

Researchers in Brazil now plan to test their findings in the lab by analyzing the impacts of microplastics on rodent femurs. In particular, they want to see if microplastics contribute to osteoporosis, a disease that thins and weakens bones.

With an aging population, osteoporosis-related fractures are expected to nearly double by 2050 compared to 2018, according to the International Osteoporosis Foundation.

“[A]lthough osteometabolic diseases are relatively well understood, there’s a gap in our knowledge regarding the influence of microplastics on the development of these diseases,” Oliveira explained. “Therefore, one of our goals is to generate evidence suggesting that microplastics could be a potential controllable environmental cause to explain, for example, the increase in the projected number of bone fractures.”