Plastic additives leach into medical experiments, research shows

November 10th, 2008 in Chemistry /

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry have shown that using plastic lab equipment can skew or ruin the results of medical experiments.

The researchers identified two classes of chemical compounds in commonly-used plastic lab ware that leach could into solutions. They further demonstrated that the compounds interacted biologically with, and changed the behaviour of, human enzymes and brain receptors in different experiments.




"Because oleamide is a molecule found in the human body that contributes to normal physiological functioning, ingesting molecules that are structurally similar to oleamide may either over-stimulate or-more likely-inhibit the body processes regulated by oleamide," he said.


But the effects of the contaminants were, "so potent on our enzymes there was quite a significant effect on our results," Holt said. They traced the source of the problem back to plastic tubes they had been using to prepare reaction solutions.



Given that plastics are in common use in research laboratories, scientists everywhere will likely be interested in these findings. "If you are testing whether a drug has an effect on an enzyme and the results are inconsistent-one day there's an apparent effect and the next day there's not -where does that leave you?" Holt said. "The time and money that is wasted; there are implications for the public interest."

According to Holt, these latest findings have, "significant and far-reaching implications for the integrity of scientific work."

Provided by University of Alberta

"Plastic additives leach into medical experiments, research shows." November 10th, 2008. http://phys.org/news145545554.html