Nanoplastics penetrate the lungs’ protective barrier: "We have no way to eliminate them," scientists warn (radio.cz)

Czech researchers have discovered that nanoplastics can weaken the lungs’ natural defence system, raising fresh concerns about the health risks posed by the tiny particles now found almost everywhere in the environment. Using a special microscope, the scientists were able to observe exactly how nanoplastics behave inside the lungs.

Researchers at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences together with colleagues from Poland and Slovenia created an experimental model of a pulmonary alveolus, a tiny air sac in the lungs where oxygen enters the bloodstream. The project focuses on nanoplastics, microscopic plastic particles small enough to enter the human body through the air we breathe, and on how they may damage the delicate protective layer separating air from lung tissue.

“Surfactant is located on the surface of the pulmonary alveoli, which are the final pathway for air into our body. Air penetrates through the surfactant, and conversely, substances that we want to excrete pass back through it and are then breathed out,” explains Lukasz Cwiklik, head of the research team.

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