Nanoparticle Air Pollution along Traffic Corridors Damages Brains

© 2010 Peter Free

 

13 June 2010

 

Nanoparticles can be really bad

Nanoparticle enginnering is usually subject of exaggerated media optimism, but in reality nanoparticles'  first major impact is in making people literally less bright.  (Or more stupid, depending on one's view of the human condition.)

Nanoparticle air pollution (probably metallic) appears to increase deposition of amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein in the human brain.  These deposits are customarily associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.  Young brains are especially vulnerable, but older people are affected, too.

Tests of sample populations living along the most polluted traffic corridors suggested that nanoparticles that cross the blood-brain barrier result in lower IQs and lower scores on memory tests.

 

See:

Ulrich Ranft et al., Long-term Exposure to Traffic-related Particulate Matter Impairs Cognitive Function in the Elderly, Environmental Research 109(8):1004-1011 (November 2009).

Michelle L. Block & Lillian Calderon-Garciduenas, Air Pollution: Mechanisms of Neuroinflammation and CNS Disease, Trends in Neurosciences 32(9):506-516 (September 2009).

S. Franco Suglia et al., Association of Black Carbon with Cognition among Children in a Prospective Birth Cohort Study, American Journal of Epidemiology 167(3):280-286 (2008).

J. Sunyer, The Neurological Effects of Air Pollution in Children, European Respiratory Journal 32:535-537 (2008).

For a lay review, see:

Janet Raloff, Destination Brain: Inhaled Pollutants May Inflame More than the Lungs, Science News 177(11):16-20 (22 May 2010).