Py-GC-MS Reveals Rising Lung Microplastic Burden

The build-up of microplastics (MPs) in the environment has been increasing, as is the number of people being exposed to them. It is not clear, however, whether that means more MP is accumulating in human lungs now compared to decades ago. To fill in that gap, researchers set out to compare lung tissue samples collected 33 years apart, looking at how much MP was present, how big the pieces were, and what types they were. They also examined the tissue itself for any related changes and used pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) to identify and measure the MP in a subset of the samples. A paper based on this study was published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health Europe.¹

Why Does It Matter to Study Changes in Human Lung Microplastic Burden Over Time?

Plastic production has skyrocketed since the early 1990s, nearly six times more than before, and today the world produces close to 600 million metric tons of it every year.^2,3 As plastic production keeps climbing, so does the amount of MPs turning up across all kinds of ecosystems.^2,4,5 While early evidence suggests that people today have higher levels of MPs in their tissues than people did in the past,^6-8 some of these findings are up for debate, largely because measuring MP in human brain samples with Py-GC-MS is tricky and can run into methodological issues.⁹ Since the lungs are constantly exposed to whatever we breathe in, they're a key place to look when studying how polluted our environment really is, and they may act like a storage site for airborne pollutants, including MPs.¹⁰ “However,” write the authors of this paper,¹ “no study to date has compared the pulmonary burden, composition, and size of MPs in lung samples collected from people deceased three decades apart.”

How Did MP Prevalence, Size, and Type in Human Lungs Differ Between 1991 and 2024?

The researchers involved in the study compared preserved lung tissue from autopsies performed at the same hospital in two different eras: 1991 (42 cases) and 2024 (57 cases). Using laser-direct infrared (LDIR) imaging, they checked how common MPs were in the tissue, how much was there, how big the particles were, and what type of plastic they were made of. The main thing they measured was the number of particles per gram of lung tissue. As mentioned earlier, they also ran a subset of samples through Py-GC-MS, as well as looked at markers for lung scarring (fibrosis) and inflammation in the tissue.¹

Their analysis determined that MPs showed up in just 8 out of 42 lungs (19%) from 1991 but jumped to 44 out of 57 lungs (77%) in 2024. The amount of plastic per gram of tissue also went up, from a median of about 13 particles to about 20. At the same time, the particles found in 2024 were noticeably smaller than those from 1991, less than half the size, on average. In addition, the types of plastic changed: in 1991, most of it was polyethylene, but by 2024 the mix was much more varied, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET, used in bottles), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polystyrene. The Py-GC/MS analysis also picked up on plastic particles in the 2024 samples that seemed to be coated with sulfur-containing residue. Finally, lungs that had MPs in them showed more signs of inflammation and scarring than lungs without MPs, regardless of which of the two groups they came from.¹

“MPs contamination of human lung tissue,” write the authors of the paper,¹ “was more frequently detected, showed greater polymer diversity, and was composed of smaller particles in post-mortem samples collected in 2024 compared with those collected in 1991. These observations are hypothesis-generating and should be interpreted in the context of the observational, cross-sectional, and retrospective nature of the study design.”

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References

1. Marfella, R.; Prattichizzo, F.; La Grotta, R. et al. Microplastics in Human Lung Tissue from Autopsy Samples Collected in 1991 and 2024: A Comparative Post-Mortem Study. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2026, 69, 101804. DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101804
2. Landrigan, P. J.; Dunlop, S.;Treskova, M. et al. The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics.Lancet 2025, 406(10507), 1044-1062. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01447-3
3. Geyer, R.; Jambeck, J. R.; Law, K. L. Production, Use, and Fate of All Plastics Ever Made. Sci Adv. 2017, 3 (7), e1700782. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700782
4. Miyazono, K.; Tadokoro, K.; Thushari, G. G. N. et al. Long-Term Changes in the Abundance, Size, and Morphotype of Marine Plastics in the North Pacific. Environ Sci Technol. 2025, 59 (9), 4608-4617. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c09706
5. Eberhard, T.; Casillas, G.; Zarus, G. M. et al. Systematic Review of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Indoor and Outdoor Air: Identifying a Framework and Data Needs for Quantifying Human Inhalation Exposures. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2024, 34 (2), 185-196. DOI: 10.1038/s41370-023-00634-x
6. Roslan, N. S.; Lee, Y. Y.; Ibrahim, Y. S. et al. Detection of Microplastics in Human Tissues and Organs: A Scoping Review. J Glob Health 2024, 14, 04179. DOI: 10.7189/jogh.14.04179
7. Nihart, A. J.; Garcia, M. A.; El Hayek, E. et al. Author Correction: Bioaccumulation of Microplastics in Decedent Human Brains. Nat Med. 2025, 31 (4), 1367. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-03675-x
8. Weingrill, R. B.; Lee, M. J.; Benny, P. et al. Temporal Trends in Microplastic Accumulation in Placentas from Pregnancies in Hawai'i. Environ Int. 2023, 180, 108220. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108220
9. Monikh F. A.; Materić, D.; Valsami-Jones, E. et al. Challenges in Studying Microplastics in Human Brain. Nat Med. 2025, 31 (12), 4034-4035. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-04045-3
10. Laumbach, R. J.; Kipen, H. M. Respiratory Health Effects of Air Pollution: Update on Biomass Smoke and Traffic Pollution. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2012, 129 (1), 3-11; quiz 12-13. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.11.021