How dangerous are nanoplastics for babies in the womb?

PhD student Sina Ruhstaller analyzes abrasion particles from plastic products. Image: Empa

The team led by project manager Tina Bürki and Sina Ruhstaller from Empa's Particles-Biology Interactions laboratory in St. Gallen are particularly interested in the placenta, the central interface between mother and child. The organ forms exclusively during pregnancy and supplies the child with nutrients and messenger substances for a healthy development. The placenta could therefore play a decisive role when it comes to the immune response of mother and child to foreign substances.

It is already clear that nanoparticles can disrupt the communication between the placenta and the unborn child. However, the effect of micro- and nanoplastics on the immunological function of the placenta and the effects on the fetal immune system have not yet been elucidated. "There is thus an urgent need for a correct risk assessments of environmental pollutants for pregnant women," says Bürki.

In order to analyze the entire process of nanoparticle exposure, the researchers will examine the micro- and nano-abrasion of everyday plastic products and evaluate the interactions with typical allergy-causing substances and pollutants. Finally, using cell cultures of the human placenta and fetal blood cells, the transport in the body and the reaction to the various particles and pollutant-particle combinations can be mapped as realistically as possible. "By releasing hormones and other mediators, the contaminated placenta could contribute to abnormal developments in the child's immune system," says Tina Bürki. For the sustainable use of safe plastic products, it is therefore essential to know whether and which polymers have an increased potential to trigger allergies, says the Empa researcher.