They have found that the infiltration of microplastics was as widespread in the body as it is in the environment, leading to behavioral changes, especially in older test subjects.

Ross’ team – which includes Research Assistant Professor Giuseppe Coppotelli, biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences graduate student Lauren Gaspar, and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program graduate student Sydney Bartman – exposed young and old mice to varying levels of microplastics in drinking water over the course of three weeks.

They found that microplastic exposure induces both behavioral changes and alterations in immune markers in liver and brain tissues.

The study mice began to move and behave peculiarly, exhibiting behaviors akin to dementia in humans.

To understand the physiological systems that may be contributing to these changes in behavior, Ross’ team investigated how widespread the microplastic exposure was in the body, dissecting several major tissues including the brain, liver, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, heart, spleen and lungs.

“Given that in this study the microplastics were delivered orally via drinking water, detection in tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, which is a major part of the digestive system, or in the liver and kidneys was always probable,” Ross said.

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