1. Dr. Antonio Ragusa
Head of the obstetrics and gynecology department
S.G. Calibita Hospital Fatebenefratelli; Isola Tiberina.
Roma.
2. Scientists have calculated that 7.8
billion tons of virgin plastic have
been created worldwide since
mass production began. It is
already impressive in itself, but it
becomes even more so when we
consider that about half of them
have been produced in the last 13
years alone
3. What is plastic used for? For the
craziest thing in the world: packaging!
This means that most of the plastic
produced today is useless as if you
bought yourself a new coat and after
ten minutes, after unpacking it you
immediately throw it away. Think about
bottles of water or soda. Totally absurd
4. The plastic is released into the environment, let's take the
example of a plastic bottle abandoned in a park slowly the
weather will reduce it into small pieces that under the action of
the rain will enter the puddles and then into the streams that
lead them to the rivers they will reach the seas within the seas
The smaller fish will eat the plastic, the larger fish will eat the
smaller ones and so on until they reach the humans, who are at
the top of the food chain. Furthermore the vast majority of
plastic bottles that you realize are abandoned directly in rivers
6. Microplastics are particles smaller than five millimeters deriving from the degradation of plastic objects present in the environment.
7. Microplastics are pieces of less than five
millimeters in size obtained from the
degradation of plastic objects abandoned in
the environment. Fragments that manage to
pass with relative ease through the
wastewater filters, making it impossible to
recover them once in the sea: here corrosion,
high temperatures, waves, wind, UV rays and
microbial action continue the slow
degradation process. In this way, smaller and
smaller debris is formed, which remain at the
mercy of the currents: one part floats, one
goes to the bottom and one ends up on the
beaches. about 80% of the waste recovered on
the coasts and in the depths of our seas is in
fact composed of plastic ... the microplastic
can be absorbed by the soil: it is able to
modify the bacterial composition of the soil,
an element that has a significant impact on its
fertility . Through worms and small insects,
microplastics thus opens up a first gateway
into the food chain ... microplastics are now
also present in the air we breathe: building
materials, waste incineration, urban dust and
tire abrasion are the main source of volatile
microplastics, capable of sticking to dust and
smog particles, every year we ingest between
39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles.
What are microplastics and where do they come from?
8. Put more simply, if we all stopped buying plastic bottles, we
would reduce most of our consumption of plastic.
Extraordinarily simple, wouldn't it?
9. One Earth 2020 3621-630DOI: (10.1016/j.oneear.2020.10.020)
Microplastics contaminate the deepest part of the world’s ocean X. Peng1, M. Chen1,2, S.
Chen1*, S. Dasgupta1, H. Xu1, K. Ta1, M. Du1, J. Li1, Z. Guo1, S. Bai1. Geochem. Persp. Let.
(2018) 9, 1-5 | doi: 10.7185/geochemlet.1829
12. In A and B the two main hypothetical mechanisms in which
microplastics enter through the human intestine.
Potential microplastic (0.1 > 10 μm) uptake and clearance
mechanisms in the lung. (C) The chance of microplastic
displacement by the lung lining fluid (surfactant and mucus) is
reduced in the upper airway, where the lining is thick (central
lung). Here mucociliary clearance is likely for particles >1 μm.
For particles <1 μm, uptake across the epithelium is possible.
(D) If the aerodynamic diameter of a microplastic permits
deposition deeper in the lung, it may penetrate the thinner
lung lining fluid and contact the epithelium, translocating via
diffusion or active cellular uptake.
13.
14. Microplastic in
environment
gastrointestinal tract Lung
Diet Air
Macrophage and
dendritic cell
M cells of the
Peyer’s patches
Lymph node
Systemic circulation
Change in the transcription of neurological
and vascular genes and
energy metabolism pathways
Epigenetic changes
Phenotypic changes
Placenta
15.
16.
17.
18. In the 1980s, 5-10% of children
lived with a chronic disease. As
of 2018, 40% of children, 50% of
adolescents, 60% of adults under
65 and 90% of adults over 65 are
living with a chronic disease.
19. Fig. 2. Accumulation of different sizes of environmental microplastics observed in various histological
sections of H. diversicolor, stained with Hematoxylin/Eosin. A) Micro- plastic with a size of 20 μm in the
connective tissue (connect the digestive tract and the muscle tissue of the parapodia). B) Microplastic
with a size of ≈20μm in the lumen of the digestive tract. C) Microplastic with a size of 10 μm in the
muscle tissue of parapodia. D) Microplastics with sizes of 1 μm and 0.5 μm in the muscle tissue of
parapodia. Whit motorised Zeiss Axio Imager Z1 microscope
20. Immagini al microscopio a luce polarizzata che mostrano la presenza di particelle di plastica nell'emolinfa (A), nelle
branchie (B), nel lume intestinale e nell'epitelio (C), nei tubuli digestivi (D). Della cozza Mytilus galloprovincialis
Cellular effects included
alterations of
immunological
responses, lysosomal
compartment,
peroxisomal
proliferation, antioxidant
system, neurotoxic
effects, onset of
genotoxicity; changes in
gene expression profile
was also demonstrated
through a new DNA
microarray platform.
21. Larvae exposed to microplastic suffered a chance of survival,
alterations in length and weig and almost 6 times greater
deformities...
we discover that the effects of microplastics differ according to
the type of polymer and the presence of environmental
contaminants and that the effects can be determined by
microplastics and / or chemical leachate alone .
22. | Nature | Vol 593 | 6 May
2021
My personal answer to this question is yes!
Microplastics are harmful, and we must act fast if we don't want
our life to become like that of the little fish photographed by David
Liitschwager for NG.
Perhaps the first thing to do is to stop buying liquids like water and
soft drinks in plastic bottles
What is plastic used for? For the craziest thing in the world packaging!
This means that most of the plastic produced today is useless as if you bought yourself a new coat and after ten minutes, after unpacking it you immediately throw it away. Think about bottles of water or soda. Totally absurd
where do the microplastics we ingest come from?
We eat the equivalent of an entire credit card every week 5 g/week of microplastics.
Microplastics (MPs) are a significant environmental health issue and increasingly greater source of concern. MPs have been detected in oceans, rivers, sediments, sewages, soil and even table salts. MPs exposure on marine organisms and humans has been documented, but information about the toxicity of MPs in mammal is limited. Here we used fluorescent and pristine polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) particles with two diameters (5 μm and 20 μm) to investigate the tissue distribution, accumulation, and tissue-specific health risk of MPs in mice. Results indicated that MPs accumulated in liver, kidney and gut, with a tissue-accumulation kinetics and distribution pattern that was strongly depended on the MPs particle size. In addition, analyses of multiple biochemical biomarkers and metabolomic profiles suggested that MPs exposure induced disturbance of energy and lipid metabolism as well as oxidative stress. Interestingly, blood biomarkers of neurotoxicity were also altered. Our results uncovered the distribution and accumulation of MPs across mice tissues and revealed significant alteration in several biomarkers that indicate potential toxicity from MPs exposure. Collectively, our data provided new evidence for the adverse consequences of MPs.
ABSTRACT
HumansareexposedtoBisphenolA(BPA)fromtheconsumerproductsandplasticsubstances.However,impacts of low levels of BPA exposure on placental developmental processes such as first trimester trophoblast cell growth, angiogenesis and epigenetic modifications are not well studied. Low concentration of BPA (1nM) affected cell proliferation of human placental first trimester trophoblasts using a model cell, HTR8/SVneo. BPA abolished both basal- and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-stimulated tube formation in these cells. BPA significantly down regulated mRNA expression of VEGF, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, intercellular adhesion molecule1withconcomitant upregulation of11-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2mRNAandprotein expression in HTR8/SVneo cells. BPA also lowered CpG methylation of gene promoter associated with metabolic and oxidative stress. This study demonstrated that BPA at 1nM not only affected cellular growth, development and angiogenic activities but also affected DNA methylation of stress response and down-regulation of angiogenic growth factors in first trimester trophoblast cells.
Questo documento è stato scritto per i non specialisti in biologia mitocondriale per fornire l'accesso a un'importante area della scienza che ha ampie implicazioni per tutte le persone. La cellula La risposta al pericolo (CDR) è una risposta universale a minacce o lesioni ambientali. Una volta attivato, la guarigione non può essere completata fino alle fasi coreografiche del I CDR vengono riportati a uno stato di prontezza aggiornato. Sebbene il CDR sia una risposta cellulare, ha il potere di cambiare il pensiero e il comportamento umano, bambino sviluppo, forma fisica e resilienza, fertilità e suscettibilità alle malattie di intere popolazioni. I mitocondri regolano la CDR monitorando e rispondendo alle condizioni fisiche, chimiche e microbiche all'interno e intorno alla cellula. In questo modo, i mitocondri collegano la salute cellulare alla salute ambientale. Oltre 7.000 sostanze chimiche vengono ora prodotte o importate negli Stati Uniti per uso industriale, agricolo e per la cura della persona in quantità che vanno da 25.000 a oltre 1 milione di libbre ogni anno, ei rifiuti di plastica ora superano gli 83 miliardi di sterline / anno. Questo carico chimico crea una marea crescente di inquinanti artificiali negli oceani, nell'aria, nell'acqua e nel cibo catena. Meno del 5% di queste sostanze chimiche è stato testato per la tossicità per lo sviluppo. Negli anni '80, il 5-10% dei bambini viveva con una malattia cronica. A partire dal 2018, il 40% di i bambini, il 50% degli adolescenti, il 60% degli adulti sotto i 65 anni e il 90% degli adulti sopra i 65 anni convivono con una malattia cronica. Diversi studi ora riportano la presenza di decine di centinaia di sostanze chimiche e inquinanti artificiali nella placenta, nel sangue del cordone ombelicale e nelle macchie di sangue dei neonati. Lo consentono nuovi metodi di metabolomica ed esposomica scienziati per misurare migliaia di sostanze chimiche nel sangue, nell'aria, nell'acqua, nel suolo e nella catena alimentare. Ora è possibile effettuare misurazioni sistematiche delle sostanze chimiche ambientali correlato con i modelli annuali e regionali di malattie infantili. Questi dati possono essere utilizzati per preparare un elenco prioritario di molecole per l'azione congressuale, classificate in base al loro impatto sulla salute umana.
L'onnipresente distribuzione di microplastiche (MP) nell'ambiente marino solleva la preoccupazione globale di comprenderne l'impatto. I parlamentari ambientali hanno dimostrato di mostrare proprietà fisico-chimiche diverse durante i loro cicli di vita. Tuttavia, il corpus di conoscenze riguardo al loro accumulo e agli effetti biologici è ancora significativamente limitato rispetto ai parlamentari fabbricati. Per valutare gli effetti pericolosi di una miscela di parlamentari ambientali raccolti lungo le spiagge tunisine, il loro accumulo e gli effetti cellulari sono stati studiati in Hediste diversicolor. Il campione MP era composto da polietilene (PE), polietilene vinil acetato (PEVA), polietilene a bassa densità (LDPE), polietilene ad alta densità (HDPE), polipropilene (PP) e poliammide (PA) analizzato mediante microspettroscopia Raman (RM). Le concentrazioni di MP nei tessuti dei vermi marini sono aumentate nel tempo, seguendo l'ordine 1,2–0,45 μm> 3–1,2 μm> 100–3 μm. L'ingestione di MP da parte di H. diversicolor ha ridotto la loro sopravvivenza e crescita, ha influenzato le vie neuro-trasmissione e antiossidanti. I nostri dati hanno sottolineato che gli effetti tossici dei parlamentari ambientali erano strettamente correlati alla dose e al periodo di esposizione. I risultati hanno anche dimostrato che la distribuzione delle dimensioni dei MP nei vermi marini era principalmente correlata ai marcatori biochimici. Questo studio evidenzia il rischio ecologico nell'ingestione e accumulo di MP ambientali da parte del biota che minaccia i loro parametri funzionali.
Microplastics represent a growing environmental concern for the oceans due to their potential of adsorbing chemical pollutants, thus representing a still unexplored source of exposure for aquatic or- ganisms. In this study polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) microplastics were shown to adsorb pyrene with a time and dose-dependent relationship. Results also indicated a marked capability of contaminated microplastics to transfer this model PAH to exposed mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis; tissue localization of microplastics occurred in haemolymph, gills and especially digestive tissues where a marked accu- mulation of pyrene was also observed. Cellular effects included alterations of immunological responses, lysosomal compartment, peroxisomal proliferation, antioxidant system, neurotoxic effects, onset of genotoxicity; changes in gene expression profile was also demonstrated through a new DNA microarray platform. The study provided the evidence that microplastics adsorb PAHs, emphasizing an elevated bioavailability of these chemicals after the ingestion, and the toxicological implications due to respon- siveness of several molecular and cellular pathways to microplastics.
