Scientists explore whether plastic particles could be linked to significant rises in liver disease

There is considerable evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics are present in the livers of humans, and wild animal populations on land and in the ocean. Now experts in environmental and human health are investigating whether the presence of these tiny plastic particles in the liver is driving disease and directly contributing to the soaring global rates of liver disease. Published in the journal Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, the article has been produced by researchers from the University of Plymouth’s newly-established Centre of Environmental Hepatology.

With the liver acting as the body’s first major firewall, processing and detoxifying everything humans consume, there is a clear potential for these particles to enable the transporting of microbial pathogens, antimicrobial resistance determinants, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and carcinogenic additives into the human system. The scientists have used that to introduce the concept of plastic-induced liver injury, and to call for increased research into whether it can accelerate the progression of alcohol-related liver disease and metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease, which affects more than 1 in 3 people worldwide.

In the review, the researchers have highlighted critical methodological bottlenecks, key knowledge gaps and unmet research priorities, as well as a number of technical challenges that are presently hindering the search for further evidence of plastic-induced liver injury. They have also provided a detailed assessment of the priority research required to fully quantify the effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on the liver, and the emphasised the importance of health and environmental experts working in tandem to address that.

Source: Eurek Alert!