Vet School Discovery: How Nanoplastics Could Be Sneaking Chemicals Into Your Skin

They’re too small to see, but they might be changing the way pollutants enter our bodies.

New research from Dr. Wei Xu and his team at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has uncovered how nanoplastics — microscopic bits of plastic that form as larger plastics break down — might be hitching a ride into our skin cells carrying unwanted chemicals along with them.

Tiny Plastics, Big Problem

Plastics never truly disappear — they just get smaller. Over time, bottles, bags, and packaging shed nanoplastics, particles so small they can slip through biological barriers. While most studies have focused on what happens when people ingest these particles, Dr. Xu’s lab is looking at another route of exposure: the skin.

“When plastics enter the environment, they don’t stay pure,” Xu explained. “They pick up other materials — proteins, chemicals, and even toxins — that can change how they behave inside the body.”

Ocean-Coated and Under the Radar

To find out how environmental exposure affects these particles, Xu’s team created synthetic nanoplastic beads and soaked them in seawater from the Texas coast for up to two weeks. The ocean-exposed beads developed new surface coatings — like a microscopic film made of proteins and organic matter.

When the team tested these coated beads on cultured skin cells, they found that the particles could evade immune defenses.

“Nanoplastics with environmental coatings were able to avoid the cell’s ‘garbage disposal’ system,” Xu said. “It’s like they’re wearing camouflage that helps them hide and stay inside the cell longer.”

A Complicated Chemical Puzzle

The findings raise questions about how these “camouflaged” nanoplastics might behave once they’re inside the human body — and what risks their chemical coatings could pose.

Xu’s team believes that the environment itself plays a major role in determining how dangerous nanoplastics become. The proteins, toxins, or algae that cling to them in ocean or floodwater could change how the body reacts — and how long they remain in tissues.

“We’ve only looked at one type of coating so far,” Xu said. “But what about those from algal blooms or industrial pollution? Each one could act differently.”

What Comes Next

As Xu’s lab continues to study nanoplastics, one of his biggest goals is standardizing research methods across the field. Different labs use different testing materials and conditions, which can lead to conflicting results.

“If researchers aren’t required to account for environmental coatings, we’re missing a big part of the picture,” Xu said.

His team’s next steps include identifying every type of coating found on their ocean-exposed particles — a painstaking process, but one that could help scientists better predict how nanoplastics behave in real-world conditions.

“The environment keeps changing,” Xu said. “So, our strategies for dealing with nanoplastics will have to change too.”