PSYCOMED

The PsyCoMed project, which proposes to assess the health effects of micro and nanoplastics on human health, falls under the theme “Assessing and sensing anthropogenic hazards to human health, environments and global changes.” PsyCoMed brings together neuroscientists, chemists and environmental toxicologists from Université Côte d’Azur laboratories.

The Mediterranean Sea has been identified as one of the seas most affected by marine pollutants of anthropogenic origin in the world. These pollutants represent a growing threat to human health, but their effects on the body are still poorly understood. The PSYchiatric disorders and COmorbidities caused by pollution in the MEDiterranean area (PsyCoMed) project aims to characterize the role of anthropogenic pollutants in the Mediterranean area, with special emphasis on micro and nanoparticles of plastics as a risk factor of neuropsychiatric disorders and associated pathologies, and the role of neuroinflammatory responses in disease progression. Through a multi-scale (from molecular to clinical science) and multi-modal (from mechanistic to behavioral approaches) study, PsyCoMed will correlate the effects of pollutants on psychiatric symptoms with alterations of inflammatory pathways in preclinical animal models exposed to pollutants. We aim to investigate neural mechanisms underlying these pathological changes in in cellulo and in vivo models. Funding from Academy 3 is covering the cost of a master’s research internship at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology of Université Côte d’Azur. The project aims to study inflammation and toxicity resulting from prolonged exposure to plastic nanoparticles. We are studying the key organs involved in pollutant collection, elimination and metabolism in these preclinical models.
It is essential to characterize the impact of environmental plastic pollution on the human body, as it has been shown that the inflammation resulting from pollution can act on the central nervous system, causing psychiatric illness and comorbid chronic pain.

Scientific domain Environmental and Human Health, Neuro-toxicology, Chemistry	Key words Pollutants Nanoplastics Neurological disorders Neuroinflammation Mediterranean
Total budget €110,000, including €22,000 from Academy 3	Students involved Arthur Prestinari (Master)
Partners IPMC – Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Inserm ICN - Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS TIRO-MATOs – Université Côte d’Azur, CEA International collaborations Université de Bordeaux Universita ta Malta - Malta Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche - Italy Uniwersytet Jagiellonski - Poland Universitat Jaume I de Castellon - Spain Universite de Tunis El Manar – Tunisia Alexandria University – Egypt Université de Saint Esprit-Kaslik - Lebanon The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health - Australia Université Cadi Ayyad – Morocco Flanat Research Italia SRL - Italy Laboratoire WATCHFROG - France Benephyt - France	Project members Jacques Noël Carole Rovere