Air pollution has been a growing concern for its impact on health, especially on the brain.
Recently, a team delved into how air pollution might be worsening the outcomes of strokes caused by blocked blood flow.
Their findings give a clearer picture of how our environment affects our health.
How Air Pollution Affects the Brain
Researchers carried out a study using mice. They exposed one group of mice to polluted air from Beijing for a week, and then compared them to a group that wasn’t exposed.
The results? The mice exposed to pollution showed more inflammation in their brains. Additionally, they struggled more with movement after having a stroke.
The study found that a specific chemical released when things like fossil fuels and wood burn, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), played a big role in this.
Mice that didn’t have a receptor for this chemical didn’t show the same increased inflammation or movement problems.
Digging Deeper into the Pollutants
Yasuhiro Ishihara, the lead researcher from Hiroshima University, said their study aimed to find out how air pollution affected the brain, especially after a stroke.
They wanted to know if certain parts of air pollution were more harmful than others.
When they looked closely, they found that very tiny particles in the air, called PM2.5, seemed to be a big part of the problem.
To confirm this, they tested air pollution from another city, Yokohama in Japan, and found the same results.
This means that these tiny particles, which come from various sources, might be a big reason for the negative effects on the brain.
Understanding the Pathway
To find out if PAHs were the real culprits, the team used mice that lacked a specific receptor (aryl hydrocarbon receptor) that responds to these chemicals.
Mice without this receptor had lesser brain inflammation and movement issues, confirming PAHs in air pollution were indeed problematic.
Now, the team is left with more questions to answer. Since we breathe in air pollution, how do these tiny particles travel from our nose or lungs to our brain?
Does inflammation in our body also play a part in activating our brain’s immune system?
In the end, understanding these mechanisms can help us protect ourselves better against the dangers of air pollution.
If you care about stroke, please read studies about why sleep loss could increase your heart disease and stroke risk, and these factors could increase stroke risk in COVID-19 patients.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that newer blood thinner drug plus aspirin could cut stroke risk by nearly 30%, and results showing that stroke risk is 8 times higher in people with COVID-19.
The study was published in Particle and Fibre Toxicology.
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