Air pollution damages the brain?

There seems to be a connection between traffic-related air pollution and an increased risk for development of disorders of the brain, as a recent study shows.

In the current investigation of the University of California has established that air pollution affects the development of the brain. The results were published in the English journal “Translational Psychiatry”.

Well-known effects of air pollution

While air pollution has long been a Problem for the lungs and cardiovascular is health, have focused research groups in the last ten years, with the effects on the brain, reports the Toxikologin and the author of the Study Pamela Lein of the University of California.

Impact of busy roads

Previously, Connections between the proximity to busy roads and disruption of neurological development such as autism have been documented, but preclinical data, based on real-time loads due to traffic-related air pollution, were little to non-existent.

Effects of air pollution in real time

The research group has attempted in the current study, a novel approach to study the impact of transport to develop related air pollution in real time. They settled in the vicinity of a road tunnel in Northern California, an enclosure for the rats, to the effects of air pollution in a rodent model as accurately as possible to imitate.

Danger from busy roads

This approach was a creative way to answer the question, what is the impact of air pollution on the brain, when confounding factors such as socio-economic influences, nutrition lack of, etc. It is important to know whether living in the vicinity of such roads constitutes a significant risk for the human brain in development, explain the researchers in a press release from the University of California, Davis.

Groups of rats breathing different air

The researchers compared the brains of rat pups who were exposed to traffic-related air pollution, with which, the filtered air breathed. Both air sources have been extracted in real time from the Tunnel.

What are the implications of the air pollution?

They found an abnormal growth and an increased Neuroinflammation in the brain of animals exposed to air pollution. This suggests that exposure to air pollution during critical stages of development may increase the risk of brain changes associated with disorders of neurological development, says the research group.

Air pollution was within the limits

These effects are based on loads due to air pollution, which, however, is within the legal limits in the United States. Against the Background of other environmental and genetic risk factors in humans, this could have a stronger effect. The air pollutants also contain very fine dust particles, for which no control is present, report the researchers.

What component of the air pollution influenced the neurological developments?

In a separate study, the exposure was extended to 14 months to investigate the long-term effects of traffic-related air pollution. The results will be analyzed at this time. The Team is also interested in which component of traffic-related air pollution influences the results of the neurological development at the most. Such a component should be identified, could the researchers to legislative bodies approach to science-based regulations for the protection of the human brain to implement.

Other future challenges

The greatest challenge in the investigation of the health effects of air pollution could be to reproduce, how, when, and what are exposed to a Form of pollution, people in the course of your life. Addressing this problem requires creative Thinking and a multidisciplinary Team of researchers. (as)