“Can cause changes in the brain
seen in autism & schizophrenia?”
Male brains are more strongly affected by pollution than female brains.
Pollution exposure could cause memory and learning problems in people. It causes
'rampant' inflammation throughout the brain.
Early exposure to air pollution causes harmful changes in the brain seen in
autism and schizophrenia, research has shown. The findings in mice follow
previous research linking traffic pollution and higher rates of autism in
children. As in humans, it was mostly male mice that were affected. Besides
suffering physical damage to their brains, they performed poorly in tests of
short-term memory, learning ability and impulsivity.
Exposure to air pollution causes harmful changes in the brain seen in autism and
schizophrenia.
In a series of experiments, scientists exposed mice to levels of air pollution
typically found in medium-sized cities during the first two weeks after birth.
Mice examined 24 hours after their last exposure displayed evidence of ‘rampant’
inflammation throughout their brains.
Fluid-filled ventricle chambers on both sides of the brain were also enlarged to
two or three times their normal size.
Lead researcher Professor Deborah Cory-Slechta, said: ‘When we looked closely at
the ventricles, we could see that the white matter that normally surrounds them
hadn’t fully developed.
‘It appears that inflammation had damaged those brain cells and prevented that
region of the brain from developing, and the ventricles simply expanded to fill
the space.
‘Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution may play a
role in autism, as well as in other neurodevelopment disorders.