Microplastics in marine-derived traditional Chinese medicine, potential threat to patients

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) contamination is widely found in marine organisms. Marine traditional Chinese medicines (MTCM) are derived from marine organisms, but there are no relevant reports on detecting MPs in MTCM. This study selected samples of MTCM from two representative pharmaceutical companies, Brand F and Brand Z, including mother-of-pearl, stone cassia, seaweed, pumice, oyster, kombu, calcined Concha Arcae, cuttlebone, and clam shell to detect and analyze the presence of MPs. The abundance, type, color, size, and composition of MPs were investigated. Varying degrees of MPs contamination was present in all MTCM. The abundance of MPs in different MTCM ranged from 0.07 to 9.53 items/g. Their type, color, and size are similar, mainly fiber, transparent and size <2 mm. The composition of MPs is primarily made of cotton, cellulose and rayon. This study contributes to the first record of MPs in MTCM. Our results show that microplastic pollution is common in MTCM, which may cause potential risk to patients consuming MTCM.