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Exposure to placental microplastic and placental and umbilical cord blood telomere length
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Researchers studied 1,121 pregnant women and found that higher microplastic concentrations in placental tissue were associated with shorter telomere length in umbilical cord blood, a marker of accelerated biological aging. Polypropylene and polyethylene were the most commonly detected microplastics in the placenta. This suggests that prenatal microplastic exposure could affect fetal development by speeding up cellular aging before birth.
Exposure to microplastics poses potential risks to human health, particularly during pregnancy and early life; however, research in this field remains scarce. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between prenatal microplastic exposure and telomere length (TL), a recognized marker of biological aging. Placental microplastic exposure and its potential effects on umbilical cord blood TL and placental tissues were investigated in a cohort of 1121 pregnant women from Shenyang, China. Microplastic concentrations in placental samples were quantified using LD-IR chemical imaging, while TL in umbilical cord blood and placental tissues was measured using qRT-PCR. Adjusted multivariable regression models, stratified analysis, and mixture analyses, including Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) and quantile g-computation, were employed to assess associations and interactions. Placental microplastics (particularly polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), and polybutylene succinate (PBS)), were prevalent, with median total concentrations of 15 n/10 g of placental tissue. In cord blood, higher PVC and PBS levels were significantly associated with reduced TL (adjusted β = -0.13 and -0.14, respectively; p ≤ 0.01). PP exposure showed no significant association with cord blood TL. For placental TL, all three microplastics demonstrated significant negative associations, with PP showing the strongest effect (β = -0.13, p < 0.001). Stratified analysis revealed no sex-based differences in associations. Quantile g-computation indicated significant cumulative effects of microplastics on TL, with PBS contributing the most to TL reduction. BKMR analysis highlighted non-linear exposure-response relationships, with lower quantiles showing positive associations and higher quantiles indicating detrimental effects on TL, potentially due to oxidative stress or inflammation. These findings underscore the pervasive presence of microplastics in placental tissues and their potential role in disrupting telomere maintenance, raising concerns about their long-term health implications for newborns.
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