World Heart Day: UCD researchers explore disease risk of microplastics

Today, World Heart Day (September 29th), we highlight the UCD researchers investigating whether tiny fragments of plastic could be contributing to cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in Ireland.

The Plastic Pulse Project, supported by UCD Sustainability seed funding, is examining plaque samples taken from atherosclerosis patients at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and St. Vincent's University Hospital. Early findings suggest microplastics might be detected in clogged arteries, echoing international studies that have raised concerns about their impact on human health.

“My colleague Junli Xu’s group have been working very hard on the methodologies for getting the plastic signature from these human tissues, just to understand what type of plastic is there, and is it detectable,” says (opens in a new window)Dr(opens in a new window) Eoin Brennan, assistant professor in Clinical Pharmacology at UCD School Of Medicine.(opens in a new window) Dr Junli Xu is associate professor at the UCD School of Biosystems & Food Engineering.

“We know microplastics are pervasive – they’re in our food, water and even in the air we breathe,” says Dr Brennan. “The big question now is: once these particles are inside our bodies, what are they actually doing to our organs and tissues?”

Their project combines clinical samples with lab-grown blood vessel models to study how microplastics interact with human cells. Preliminary data indicates that plastics can enter blood vessel cells and trigger inflammation - a key factor in heart disease.

“After 24 hours you can see under the microscope that the plastic has made its way inside the cells. Not only that, but it has actually switched on a lot of inflammatory pathways in these cells. So when these plastics make their way into the blood vessel cells, they drive up inflammation, which is something we don't want to see.”

The initiative is being run in collaboration with the (opens in a new window)Irish Heart Foundation and environmental NGO, (opens in a new window)VOICE Ireland, with the aim of feeding scientific results into national and European policy debates. The team hopes the project will provide critical evidence on the hidden risks of plastic exposure – and spur wider public health action.