Healthy mice show resilience to chronic nano- and microplastic exposure in the brain
Abstract
Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) have recently been detected in multiple human tissues, including the brain, raising concerns regarding their potential contribution to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. However, whether chronic exposure to MNPs is sufficient to perturb the healthy central nervous system remains unresolved. Here, we combined spatial transcriptomics, flow cytometry, blood-brain barrier analyses, microglial morphometry, inflammatory profiling, and behavioural testing to define how chronic oral exposure to micro- and nanoplastics affects the healthy young mouse brain. Spatial transcriptomics identified subtle alterations in cellular neighbourhood organisation and modest transcriptional remodelling across multiple cell populations, including endothelial cells and macrophages. Nevertheless, chronic MNP exposure did not cause detectable blood-brain barrier leakage, alter brain immune cell composition, induce overt microgliosis or astrogliosis, or trigger elevated cytokine production. Likewise, extensive behavioural phenotyping across oral gavage and dietary exposure paradigms failed to reveal detectable impairments in locomotion, anxiety-like behaviour, cognition, or fear conditioning. Together, our findings demonstrate that, under the chronic oral exposure conditions and endpoints tested, healthy young mice display substantial resilience to MNP exposure in the brain. These findings establish an important baseline for future studies investigating whether inflammatory, metabolic, or neurodegenerative conditions sensitize the brain to MNP-associated pathology.
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BibTeX
@article{viola2026healthy,
title = {{Healthy mice show resilience to chronic nano- and microplastic exposure in the brain}},
author = {Maria Francesca Viola and Nikola Makdissi and Fabrizio Musacchio and Virginia Aliprandi and Eliana Franco Taveras and Marina L. Mayer and Jake Thomas and David Bejarano and Nelli Blank-Stein and Falk Nimmerjahn and Dagmar Wachten and Lukas Kenner and Andreas Schlitzer and Martin Fuhrmann and Elvira Mass},
journal = {Frontiers in Immunology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2026.1917614},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1917614},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Healthy mice show resilience to chronic nano- and microplastic exposure in the brain
AU - Maria Francesca Viola
AU - Nikola Makdissi
AU - Fabrizio Musacchio
AU - Virginia Aliprandi
AU - Eliana Franco Taveras
AU - Marina L. Mayer
AU - Jake Thomas
AU - David Bejarano
AU - Nelli Blank-Stein
AU - Falk Nimmerjahn
AU - Dagmar Wachten
AU - Lukas Kenner
AU - Andreas Schlitzer
AU - Martin Fuhrmann
AU - Elvira Mass
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/03
JO - Frontiers in Immunology
DO - 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1917614
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1917614
AB - Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) have recently been detected in multiple human tissues, including the brain, raising concerns regarding their potential contribution to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. However, whether chronic exposure to MNPs is sufficient to perturb the healthy central nervous system remains unresolved. Here, we combined spatial transcriptomics, flow cytometry, blood-brain barrier analyses, microglial morphometry, inflammatory profiling, and behavioural testing to define how chronic oral exposure to micro- and nanoplastics affects the healthy young mouse brain. Spatial transcriptomics identified subtle alterations in cellular neighbourhood organisation and modest transcriptional remodelling across multiple cell populations, including endothelial cells and macrophages. Nevertheless, chronic MNP exposure did not cause detectable blood-brain barrier leakage, alter brain immune cell composition, induce overt microgliosis or astrogliosis, or trigger elevated cytokine production. Likewise, extensive behavioural phenotyping across oral gavage and dietary exposure paradigms failed to reveal detectable impairments in locomotion, anxiety-like behaviour, cognition, or fear conditioning. Together, our findings demonstrate that, under the chronic oral exposure conditions and endpoints tested, healthy young mice display substantial resilience to MNP exposure in the brain. These findings establish an important baseline for future studies investigating whether inflammatory, metabolic, or neurodegenerative conditions sensitize the brain to MNP-associated pathology.
SN - 1664-3224
ER -