Silent saboteurs: How microplastics disrupt stem cells and tissue regeneration

Table 1 Evidence of microplastics already present in the human body

Location	Size of microplastics	Concentration/abundance of microplastics	Testing method	Ref.
Brain	100-200 nm	4917 μg/g	Py-GC/MS	[42]
Bone	138.86 ± 105.67 μm	22.9 ± 15.7 particles/g	Raman spectra	[43]
Bone marrow	20-500 μm	51.29 μg/g	Py-GC/MS	[44]
Blood	≥ 700 nm	1.6 μg/mL	Py-GC/MS	[6]
Kidney	1-5 μm	404 μg/g	Py-GC/MS	[42]
Lung	3 μm	1.42 ± 1.50 MP/g	μFTIR spectroscopy	[45]
Placenta	> 1 μm	126.8 ± 147.5 μg/g	Py-GC/MS	[7,46]
Breast milk	20-50 μm	20.2 particles/g	Laser infrared imaging spectrometer	[47]
Liver	1-5 μm	433 μg/g	Py-GC/MS	[42]
Testis	21.76-286.71 μm	11.60 ± 15.52 particles/g	Py-GC/MS	[48,49]
Colon	1.1 ± 0.3 mm	28.1 ± 15.4 particles/g	μFTIR spectroscopy	[50]

Py-GC/MS: Pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; MP: Microplastic; μFTIR: Micro Fourier transform infrared.