By William Burkey

Faculty Mentor: Laura Sipe / Matthew C. Fleenor

Abstract

Microplastic contamination is becoming an increasingly important issue, but there is still
little known about how they affect the mechanical properties of tissues. Blood, in particular,
relies heavily on its rheological behavior to flow properly and deliver oxygen efficiently, so any disruption to its viscosity could have significant biological impacts. In this project, we measured how polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics altered the viscoelastics of biological tissues using rheological methods on the MCR 92 Anton Paar rheometer. Rheology provides a way to measure how biological materials respond to stress and strain, giving insight into how microplastics might physically interfere with the structure and function of soft tissues. Using controlled PET concentrations, we measured shifts in tissue mechanics such as viscosity under multiple types of stress. Across all samples, changes in viscosity indicated an interaction between microplastic presence and the microstructure of blood and cecum. These results show that microplastic contamination can be detected through quantifiable shifts in viscoelastic properties. For future endeavors, microscopic cell structure will be investigated before and after testing as well as in-vivo testing being used in hopes to measure a physiological effect of microplastics when introduced in a more dynamic system. This field is still vastly under-researched and the results of this project will be beneficial to future bio-materials research and microplastic research alike.