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Analysis reveals associations between white matter hyperintensities and microplastics, suggesting possible impacts on cognitive function.
Motivation: White matter hyperintensities are abnormalities that appear in MRI scans of living patients but are not apparent in MRI post-mortem. Goal(s): Our goal is to understand the cellular/biological basis of white matter hyperintensities. Approach: We aligned post-mortem MR scans with those collected antemortem preformed histopathology and pyrGC/MS on regions with WMH. Results: PyrGC/MS detected large amounts of plastics and detected their cellular location with a novel optical imaging approach in location with small vessel disease and Abeta plaques. Impact: Microplastics in the brain of people with cognitive impairment may be due to pre-existing vascular injury or contribute to it. Many questions remain: Where do they come from, does they impair functional? Can they be diagnosed by MRI ante-mortem?
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Bearer et al. (2025) studied this question.
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