sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
By Carl Marziali on April 7, 2011 9:07 AM
If mice commuted, their brains might find it progressively harder to navigate the maze of Los Angeles freeways.
The mind-numbing toxin is not an exhaust gas, but a mix of tiny particles from burning of fossil fuel and weathering of car parts and pavement, according to a new study in the leading journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The authors found a way to recreate air laden with freeway particulate matter inside the laboratory. Whether in a test tube or in live mice, brain cells showed similar responses:
? Neurons involved in learning and memory showed significant damage.
? The brain showed signs of inflammation associated with premature aging and Alzheimer?s disease.
? Neurons from developing mice did not grow as well.
snip
?You can?t see them, but they are inhaled and have an effect on brain neurons that raises the possibility of long-term brain health consequences of freeway air,? said University Professor and senior author Caleb Finch, an expert in the effects of inflammation and holder of the ARCO/William F. Kieschnick Chair in the Neurobiology of Aging at USC.
snip
Research by preventive medicine faculty at the Keck School has linked proximity to freeways with increased risk of asthma and, most recently, autism (http://bit.ly/eawo4M).
Autopsies of adults in Mexico found signs of brain inflammation and premature aging in subjects from Mexico City compared to ones from the less polluted city of Veracruz (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19716187).
Prior research by Sioutas found inflammatory responses in the brains of rodents exposed to freeway air, but did not study the effect of freeway particulates on brain cells (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17886059).
more...
http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/freeway_air_damages_brains_of_mice.html
If mice commuted, their brains might find it progressively harder to navigate the maze of Los Angeles freeways.
The mind-numbing toxin is not an exhaust gas, but a mix of tiny particles from burning of fossil fuel and weathering of car parts and pavement, according to a new study in the leading journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The authors found a way to recreate air laden with freeway particulate matter inside the laboratory. Whether in a test tube or in live mice, brain cells showed similar responses:
? Neurons involved in learning and memory showed significant damage.
? The brain showed signs of inflammation associated with premature aging and Alzheimer?s disease.
? Neurons from developing mice did not grow as well.
snip
?You can?t see them, but they are inhaled and have an effect on brain neurons that raises the possibility of long-term brain health consequences of freeway air,? said University Professor and senior author Caleb Finch, an expert in the effects of inflammation and holder of the ARCO/William F. Kieschnick Chair in the Neurobiology of Aging at USC.
snip
Research by preventive medicine faculty at the Keck School has linked proximity to freeways with increased risk of asthma and, most recently, autism (http://bit.ly/eawo4M).
Autopsies of adults in Mexico found signs of brain inflammation and premature aging in subjects from Mexico City compared to ones from the less polluted city of Veracruz (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19716187).
Prior research by Sioutas found inflammatory responses in the brains of rodents exposed to freeway air, but did not study the effect of freeway particulates on brain cells (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17886059).
more...
http://uscnews.usc.edu/university/freeway_air_damages_brains_of_mice.html