Microplastics were found for the first time in the follicular liquid of the human ovary, so that a new round of questions about the potential impact of the ubiquitous and toxic substances is evoked on the fertility of women.
The new peer-reviewed study published in ecotoxicology and environmental safety that is checked for microplastics in the follicular liquid of 18 women who undergo reproductive treatment in a fertility clinic in Salerno, Italy, and detected in 14.
Follicular liquid offers essential nutrients and biochemical signals for developing eggs. The pollution of that process with pieces of plastic probably has implications for fertility, hormonal balance and overall reproductive health, the authors wrote.
The findings are an important step to find out how and why microplastics influence women's reproductive health, but are also “very alarming,” said Luigi Montano, a researcher at the University of Rome and Study Lead Author.
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“This discovery should serve as an important warning signal about the invasiveness of these rising contaminants in the female reproductive system,” says the study.
From the top of MT Everest to the bottom of the Mariana run, microplastics and smaller nanoplastics are detected throughout the environment. It is thought that food is a main covering route: Recent studies have found them in all tested meat and produce products.
Microplastics are particularly dangerous because they can contain a number of 16,000 plastic chemicals. This includes very toxic compounds such as PFAS, bisphenol and phthalates that are linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, hormone disruption or development oxity.
Microplastics have been found throughout the human body and can cross the brain and placental barriers.
The newest article from Montano is part of a larger project that he leads, for which he has also detected microplastics in human urine and sperm and investigates the effects on fertility. He said he suspects that microplastics belong to chemicals that stimulate declining sperminations and a decrease in total sperm quality.
“We have proven this decrease, especially in areas where pollution is bad,” said Montano.
Although men are more sensitive to the toxic effects of the fabric, he added, women may also be affected. Animal research has linked the presence of microplastics to ovary disease and health problems, such as reduced ripening of ova and a lower capacity for fertilization. Another study on mice showed changes in ovar tissue.
The paper notes that a “possible presence of correlation between the concentration of microplastics” and reproductive health in women who participated in the new study.
Montano added that the bisphenol, phthalates, PFAs and other very toxic chemicals that use microplastics as a “Trojan horse” to get into the body and in the ovaries, “very dangerous”. The chemicals are already known for disturbing hormones and harming women's reproductive health.
The follicular liquid paper offers a “very important finding,” said Xiaozhong Yu, a researcher from the University of New Mexico Microplastics, but he added that more work is needed to determine the dose and the level of exposure with which adverse effects begin to happen.
“This is the work in the next phase – we have to quantify,” said Yu. His team also tries to answer some of those questions with broader epidemiological research.
The Montano team does similar work, and he spits research that tries to determine how much reducing the use of plastic in the kitchen and eating a biological diet will reduce the level of microplastics in the body.
The omnipresence of the substances makes it difficult to avoid, but reducing the amount of plastic used in the kitchen – from packaging to storage to utensils – can probably reduce exposures. Pesticides can contain microplastics, or in some cases there are a form of microplastics, so organic food can help.
Experts also recommend that people avoid plastic or hot food and plant liquid in plastic.
For example, paper coffee cups for one -time use can add trillion pieces of plastic when hot liquid is added. Likewise, tea bags can issue billions of particles and microwaveplastic is also a problem. Plastic utensils that come into contact with hot pans can also log out chemicals, and alternatives for wood and stainless steels are better.
