Grenoble researchers have discovered that nanoparticles in tattoo inks can persist in the lymph nodes.
Titanium dioxide is not only used in sweets and cookies. This nanoparticle would also be present in tattoo inks. A worrying trace because this molecule would be able to cross the skin and wander around the body, suggests a study published in Scientific Reports.
Researchers from the European Synchrotron in Grenoble and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin explain that this nanoparticle serves as the basis for tattoo ink. It’s the 2and most used ingredient in these products.
They were able to follow the path of these pigments in the human body thanks to super-powerful X-rays. They then found that the titanium dioxide persisted in the dermis. Even finer particles were also present in the lymph nodes.
Risk of chronic inflammation
“We already knew that the pigments could travel through the lymphatic network because the lymph nodes get colored after a tattoo. This is how the body can clean the tattoo site, describes Bernhard Hesse, one of the study’s co-authors. But what we didn’t know is that these hues are linked to nanoparticles. And that poses a problem because we don’t know how these substances react. »
Researchers are concerned because the persistence of foreign bodies in the lymph nodes can cause chronic inflammation.
They now want to know if the adverse effects observed in some tattooed people are due to these particles. To do this, they will analyze human tissue and study the chemical and structural properties of the pigments used in tattoo inks.
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