PLoS One: air pollution can affect children's brain structure

January 28, 2020 / BIOON / - early childhood exposure to traffic air pollution (TRAP) is accompanied by structural changes in the brain at the age of 12, according to a new study A study at the children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati found that children with higher levels of TRAP at birth had lower gray matter volume and cortical thickness at the age of 12 compared with children with lower levels of exposure Dr Travis Beckwith, lead author of the Cincinnati Children's study, said: "although the results of this study are preliminary, they show that the quality of the air around the shelter affects brain development." Although the loss is much lower than that of degenerative diseases, it may be enough to affect the development of various physical and mental processes " (image source: www Pixabay Com) gray matter includes areas of the brain involved in motor control and sensory perception, such as vision and hearing Cortical thickness reflects the depth of external gray matter The study found that specific areas of the frontal and parietal lobes, as well as the cerebellum, were affected by a 3-4% reduction Dr Beckwith said: "if you are affected by trap in the early stage, it will cause irreversible damage to brain development." The results were published online in the journal PLoS One They used MRI to obtain the anatomical brain images of 147 12-year-old children At the same time, these children were exposed to trap and health outcomes at the age of six months The researchers used a network of air samples from 27 locations in the Cincinnati area to estimate exposure and simultaneously sampled at four or five locations in different seasons Previous studies have shown that trap can cause neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders This study once again demonstrates the fact that trap changes brain structure early in life Information source: high air pollution exposure in 1-year-olds linked to structural brain changes at age 12 original source: Travis Beckwith, Kim Cecil, mekibib altaye, Rachel severs, Christopher Wolfe, Zana Percy, Thomas Maloney, Kimberly yolton, grace LeMasters, Kelly brunst, Patrick Ryan Reduced gray matter volume and critical thickness associated with traffic-related air pollution in a longitudinally studied pediatric cohort PLOS ONE , 2020; 15 (1): e0228092 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228092