Exposure to nanoplastics could induce spread of Alzheimer’s disease from the brain to other other organs

Polystyrene. Image sourced from Getty.

4 August 2025

A new preclinical study has found exposure to nanoplastics (tiny plastic particles) can rapidly progress Alzheimer’s disease and, subsequently, spread from the brain to other key organs such as the liver, heart and gut.

The study, co-led by Monash University and South China University of Technology, investigated how environmental-level polystyrene nanoplastic exposure influences the progression of Alzheimer’s disease from the brain to other parts of the body. Studies in mice revealed that nanoplastic-induced neurological damage is not confined within the brain, but expands systemically through the ‘gut–liver–brain axis’.

In mice exposed to polystyrene nanoplastics, Alzheimer’s-like symptoms were shown to stimulate ‘microglia’ immune cell activation in the brain, leading to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. This in turn led to peripheral health implications beyond the brain, including fatty liver disease, abnormal build-up of fat and gut microbiota imbalance.

Humans are involuntarily exposed to plastics through inhalation, dermal contact and the consumption of contaminated food and water, and plastic particles have been detected in human lungs, bloodstream and, very recently, in the human brain.

This, however, is the first study to show how rapidly nanoplastics can evolve from the brain to other parts of the body.

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