> “If you go down to the nanoscale the properties of these materials are very different. They’re much more reactive,” he said.
> A 2023 study showed that nanoplastics attracted clumps of a particular protein, called alpha-synuclein, that has been linked to Parkinson’s disease and dementia. This happens in cells in a dish and lab mice.
> Earlier research in zebrafish found that nanoplastics can be passed from Mom to baby via the placenta and can cross the barrier to get into the brains of mice where they damage brain cells and alter the brain’s activity.
> “I don’t know if I’d make a direct link to disease outcome but I will say that pathogenic bacteria really like plastics and so it kind of concentrates those bacteria that can lead to pathologies,” she said.