The battle to reduce vehicle emissions isn’t just about saving the environment – it’s also about saving lives too, as new research reveals the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution.
Learning and memory problems, as well as physical changes in the brain, can be prompted by PM2.5 exposure, according to Laura Fonken, the lead author of the study and doctoral student in neuroscience atOhioStateUniversity. Though much of the damaging effects of polluted air have focused on the heart and lungs, it appears they can also have a negative effect on the brain.
The studies looked at mice that were exposed to either filtered air or polluted air for six hours a day, five days a week for 10months. The polluted air contained fine particulate matter – PM2.5 – and the concentrations were the equivalent to what people may be exposed to in some polluted urban areas.
After 10months of exposure the researchers performed a variety of behavioural tests. For example, in a learning and memory test, mice were placed in the middle of a brightly lit arena and given two minutes to find an escape hole leading to a dark box where they feel more comfortable after five days of training. However, the mice who breathed the polluted air took longer to learn where the escape hole was located.
Similarly, mice exposed to the polluted air showed more depressive-like behaviour and signs of higher levels of anxiety-like behaviour.
In separate studies, the authors found that chronic exposure to polluted air could lead to widespread inflammation in the body which can be linked a variety of human problems, also including depression.
