Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Method for label-free & non-destructive detection of microplastics in human formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections
Department of General Surgery, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Research Center for Non-Destructive Testing (RECENDT), Linz, Austria.
Research Center for Non-Destructive Testing (RECENDT), Linz, Austria; Center for Biomarker Research in Medicine (CBmed), Graz, Austria.
Research Center for Non-Destructive Testing (RECENDT), Linz, Austria.
Show others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: Scientific Reports, E-ISSN 2045-2322, Vol. 15, no 1, article id 42637Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Microplastic (MP) pollution is increasingly acknowledged as a critical environmental and public health issue. This study sought to establish a robust, clinically compatible method for detecting MP particles in deparaffinized formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) human colon tissue sections, using protocols compatible with routine clinical pathology. We employed mid-infrared photothermal (MIP) microscopy—also referred to as optical photothermal infrared (OPTIR) spectroscopy—as a non-destructive, high-resolution technique for chemical characterization and spatial mapping of polymer particles in intact FFPE samples. Following OPTIR analysis, identical sections underwent hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining to facilitate precise histopathological evaluation in defined regions of interest. Using this integrated workflow, we detected and localized polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles (21 PE particles, 1 PS particle, and 1 PET fiber) within distinct tissue areas. Subsequent histological assessment revealed characteristic inflammatory features near to these identified MP particles. To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of a diagnostic workflow that enables combined infrared spectroscopic and histopathological analysis of MPs in routinely processed human FFPE tissue. This approach offers a promising avenue to elucidate the role of microplastic accumulation in human disease and supports further investigation into potential mechanistic links between MP exposure and inflammatory processes in the colon.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Nature Publishing Group, 2025. Vol. 15, no 1, article id 42637
Keywords [en]
Colon, FFPE, Inflammation, Microplastic, Optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy
National Category
Cancer and Oncology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-247603DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-26751-1ISI: 001627895300047PubMedID: 41315108Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105023453530OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-247603DiVA, id: diva2:2022685
Funder
EU, Horizon 2020, P101072735EU, Horizon 2020, 101119427Available from: 2025-12-17 Created: 2025-12-17 Last updated: 2025-12-17Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(2841 kB)24 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 2841 kBChecksum SHA-512
b670fe855711128e48ae4eff01e6ea17d0b40193a4026beedca7ea8b698703c7120b351d67783b3e51dab101200373821cdd1c739e1bff5bb18e09aa5302c84c
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

Kenner, Lukas

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Kenner, Lukas
By organisation
Department of Molecular Biology (Faculty of Medicine)
In the same journal
Scientific Reports
Cancer and Oncology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 531 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf