Air quality impacts early brain development
Study explores how living close to roadways may impact the brain

Date:
June 17, 2020
Source:
University of California - Davis
Summary:
Does living close to roadways pose a risk to the developing
brain? A study found a link between traffic-related air pollution
and an increased risk for changes in brain development relevant
to neurodevelopmental disorders.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found a link
between traffic-related air pollution and an increased risk for changes in brain development relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders. Their study,
based on rodent models, corroborates previous epidemiological evidence
showing this association.


========================================================================== While air pollution has long been a concern for pulmonary and
cardiovascular health, it has only been within the past decade that
scientists have turned their attention to its effects on the brain,
said UC Davis toxicologist Pamela Lein, senior author of the study,
recently published in Translational Psychiatry.

Researchers had previously documented links between proximity to busy
roadways and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, but preclinical
data based on real-time exposures to traffic-related air pollution was
scarce to nonexistent.

Lein worked with UC Davis atmospheric scientist Anthony Wexler and first
author Kelley Patten, a doctoral student in the UC Davis graduate group
for pharmacology and toxicology, to develop a novel approach to study
the impacts of traffic-related air pollution in real time. They set up
a vivarium near a traffic tunnel in Northern California so they could
mimic, as closely as possible, the experience of humans in a rodent model.

"This approach was a creative way to get at the question of what impacts
air pollution has on the brain in the absence of confounding factors such
as socioeconomic influences, diet, etc.," Lein said. "It's important to
know if living close to these roadways poses a significant risk to the developing human brain.

"If it does," Lein continues, "scientists can warn susceptible
individuals, such as pregnant women -- particularly those who have
already had a child diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder -- to
take appropriate precautions to minimize risks to the health of their
child's brain." EARLY EXPOSURE OUTCOMES


==========================================================================
The researchers compared the brains of rat pups exposed to traffic-related
air pollution with those exposed to ?ltered air. Both air sources were
drawn from the tunnel in real time.

They found abnormal growth and increased neuroinflammation in the
brains of animals exposed to air pollution. This suggests that air
pollution exposure during critical developmental periods may increase
the risk for changes in the developing brain that are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

"What we witnessed are subtle changes," Patten said. "But we are seeing
these effects using air pollution exposures that fall within regulatory
limits. With the backdrop of other environmental and genetic risk factors
in humans, this may have a more pronounced effect. This exposure also
contains very fine particulate matter that isn't currently regulated."
In a separate study, Patten extended this exposure for 14 months to look
at longer-term impacts of traffic-related air pollution and is in the
process of writing up those results.

The team is also interested in what component of traffic-related air
pollution is driving the neurodevelopmental outcomes.



==========================================================================
If they can identify the culprits, Lein said, then scientists can approach legislators to develop scientifically based regulations to protect the developing human brain.

TEAM EFFORTS UC Davis atmospheric scientist and co-author Keith Bein
said that the single most challenging aspect of studying the health
effects of air pollution may be replicating how, when and what people
are exposed to throughout their lifetimes.

Tackling this requires creative thinking and a multidisciplinary team
of researchers, including exposure engineers, atmospheric scientists, toxicologists, biologists, behaviorists and animal care specialists.

"We have managed to build a unique and talented team and taken advantage
of our built environment to bring us closer than we've been before to
achieving these objectives," Bein said. "Increasingly, these types of
efforts are required to continue advancing the field, thereby informing policymakers and stakeholders about how best to protect human health."
Other study co-authors include: Eduardo Gonza'lez and Anthony Valenzuela,
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine; Elizabeth Berg, UC Davis School
of Medicine; Christopher Wallis, UC Davis Air Quality Research Center;
Joel Garbrow, Washington University; and Jill Silverman at the UC Davis
MIND Institute and School of Medicine. The study was supported by the
National Institutes of Health.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Davis. Original written by Trina Wood. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kelley T. Patten, Eduardo A. Gonza'lez, Anthony Valenzuela,
Elizabeth
Berg, Christopher Wallis, Joel R. Garbow, Jill L. Silverman,
Keith J.

Bein, Anthony S. Wexler, Pamela J. Lein. Effects of early life
exposure to traffic-related air pollution on brain development in
juvenile Sprague-Dawley rats. Translational Psychiatry, 2020; 10
(1) DOI: 10.1038/ s41398-020-0845-3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617145934.htm

--- up 21 weeks, 1 day, 2 hours, 34 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)