Researchers from Duke University School of Medicine found that nano-plastics — extremely small particles of plastics left to break down in the environment that can leach into water and soil — affect a specific protein found in the brain, causing changes linked to Parkinson’s disease and other types of dementia.
They noticed that some types of nano-particles had a tremendous effect on aggregating a protein known as alpha-synuclein that is linked to brain diseases.
When plastic breaks down in the environment, it first turns into small particles called microplastics. From there, the microplastics continue to degrade, forming nano-plastics.
For this study, scientists used three models — test tubes, cultured neurons, and a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease — to conduct their research.
Dr. West and his team found that nano-particles of the plastic polystyrene — used to make foam packaging peanuts, egg cartons, and disposable drinking cups — draw the alpha-synuclein protein, causing it to accumulate.
In different types of assays, they found that nano-plastics hijack parts of the alpha-synuclein protein that normally bind to lipids in the brain, and twist the protein into a form that encourages aggregation associated with neurological diseases.
However, the problems do not stop there, since the plastics impair the very machinery designed to destroy aggregates that form a part of the cell called the lysosomes. They suspect this ‘two-hit’ mechanism is behind the interactions they found in their studies.
Read the full details here if you like:
science.org/doi/10.1126/sci...
Best wishes to all.