Nanoplastics cause abnormal branch growth in neurons

Summary: Every day, we take in tiny pieces of plastic from our food, water, and air. Scientists recently found that these microscopic plastics can actually travel into our brains! A new study looked at what happens when brain cells are exposed to very small amounts of everyday plastic.

The good news is that these tiny plastics don't kill the brain cells or stop them from talking to each other. However, the smallest pieces—measuring just 50 nanometers wide, which is completely invisible to the human eye—cause the branches of the brain cells to grow abnormally long. Larger plastic pieces didn't cause this weird growth. Researchers are still studying what this means for our brain health over a long period of time, but it shows that even the tiniest pollution can change how our cells develop.

For more details, see PsyPost at psypost.org/nanoplastics-cause-abnormal-branch-growth-in-neurons/ (opens in new tab)