Study links microplastics to Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in mice | Mice with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s show cognitive and memory problems when exposed to microplastics.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/09/02/alzheimers-symptoms-microplastics-mice-study/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzU2Nzg1NjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzU4MTY3OTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NTY3ODU2MDAsImp0aSI6IjFiMTc5Yjg2LTA0OTMtNGQzNi05MDFkLWUyMjdhMWY3NzI5MiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9jbGltYXRlLWVudmlyb25tZW50LzIwMjUvMDkvMDIvYWx6aGVpbWVycy1zeW1wdG9tcy1taWNyb3BsYXN0aWNzLW1pY2Utc3R1ZHkvIn0.J-Z1yCjAUJQCLAXThRYHZF7z8zLOQLa7MmmffquQwcw

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The underlying paper is open-access

Plastic is the oil industry's backup plan, so they've been actively trying to prevent a treaty to limit plastic pollution.

90 points · 5 comments · view on lemmy.world

5 Comments

KnightontheSun@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 1y (4 replies)

I think the PFAS blood test runs ~$350. I have no idea if my insurance would cover it, but it is a cost I am nearly willing to bear just to find out what "gains" I've made in the world of plastics.

silence7@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

I'm quite sure that like every other human, you've got some PFAS in you. Cognitive impact is likely due to plastics in the brain, and I'm only aware of post-mortem measurement for that right now.

KnightontheSun@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y

Yah, I'm not really prepared for the post-mortem check just yet. The blood test at least gives an idea of where one is at that moment. One could then do all the blood-letting, or leaches needed to bring the numbers down (only to be re-ingested, ofc). Not sure if it lessens any that might be lodged in the skull, but holy hell I did not have this on my bingo card of health issues to watch for.

Veritasium has a video on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC2eSujzrUY

nomiya@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Could take this a step further and do plasmapheresis therapy to remove some from the blood but in the US it cost from 5k to 10k and insurance definitely won't cover it.

KnightontheSun@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y

Good point, thanks. Since this caused me to look that up, here's an interesting study on Australian firefighters and plasmapheresis:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8994130/