Microplastics have been found for the first time in the follicular fluid of human ovaries, raising a new series of questions on the potential impact of omnipresent and toxic substances on fertility of women.
The new research evaluated by peers published in Ecotoxicology and environmental security Check the microplastics in the follicular fluid of 18 women undergoing reproductive treatment assisted in a clinic of fertility in Salerne, Italy, and detected them in 14.
Follicular fluid provides essential nutrients and biochemical signals to develop eggs. Contaminating this process with plastic bits probably has implications for fertility, hormonal balance and global reproductive health, the authors wrote.
The results represent a major step to understand how and why microplastics have an impact on the reproductive health of women, but are also “very alarming”, said Luigi Montano, researcher at the University of Rome and the main study of the study.
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“This discovery should serve as a significant alert signal on the invasiveness of these emerging contaminants in the female reproductive system,” said the study.
From the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana trench, microplastics and smaller nanoplastics were detected throughout the environment. It is believed that food is a main exhibition route: recent studies have found them in All meat And produce products Tested.
Microplastics are particularly dangerous because they can contain a number of 16,000 plastic chemicals. Which includes highly toxic compounds like PFAS, bisphenol and phthalates which are linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, hormonal disturbances or toxicity of development.
Microplastics have been found throughout the human body and can cross the brain And placental barriers.
Montano's last article is part of a larger project He leads for which he also detected human microplastics urine And spermand examine the impacts on fertility. He said he suspected that microplastics were among the chemicals that lead the number of sperm to fall and a drop in the overall quality of sperm.
“We have proven this decline, especially in areas where pollution is bad,” said Montano.
Although men are more sensitive to the toxic effects of the substance, he added, women are also possible. Animal research has linked the presence of microplastics to ovarian dysfunction and health problems, such as a reduced maturation of oocytes, and lower fertilization capacity. Another study on mice showed alterations in the ovarian fabric.
The article notes a “possible presence of correlation between the concentration of microplastics” and reproductive health in women who participated in the new study.
Montano added that bisphenol, phthalates, PFAs and other highly toxic chemicals that use microplastics like a “Trojan horse” to enter the body and in the ovaries, are “very dangerous”. Chemicals are already well known to disturb hormones and harm women's reproductive health.
The follicular fluid document offers a “very important observation,” said Xiaozhong Yu, a microplastic researcher at the New Mexico University, but he added that more work is necessary to determine the dose and the level of exposure to which the negative effects are starting to occur.
“This is the work in the next phase – we have to quantify,” said Yu. His team also tries to answer some of these questions with broader epidemiological research.
The Montano team does similar work, and it is the search spearhead that tries to determine the reduction in the use of plastic in the kitchen and a biological diet, will reduce the level of microplastics in the body.
The ubiquity of substances makes it difficult to avoid, but the reduction in the quantity of plastic used in the kitchen – from packaging to storage through utensils – can probably reduce exposure. Pesticides may contain microplastics, or in some cases are a form of microplastics, therefore eating organic can help.
Experts also advise that people avoid heating plastic or putting hot food and plastic fluid.
Single -use paper cups, for example, can get rid of Billions of bits of plastic when hot liquid is added. Likewise, tea sachets can release billions of particles and microwave plastic Also a problem. Plastic utensils that briefly come into contact with hot pans can also leam to chemicals, and wooden and stainless steel alternatives are better.
