“One of the authors of these studies has now collaborated with United Kingdom researchers in the present study of brains from Mexico and Manchester to show the presence of magnetite nanoparticles of exogenous origin, nearly certainly derived from traffic-related pollution, suggesting that such particles may be a factor in initiating the processes that lead to dementia”.
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The report, a joint effort between the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), said air pollution had been linked to wide range of diseases, from cancer to asthma, heart disease and diabetes and that damage would be inflicted “across a lifetime, from a baby’s first weeks in the womb all the way through to the years of older age”.
“The particles we found are strikingly similar to the magnetite nanospheres that are abundant in the airborne pollution found in urban settings, especially next to busy roads, and which are formed by combustion or frictional heating from vehicle engines or brakes”.
Now experts have found that tiny particles breathed in and taken into the brain through air pollution could be linked to the disease.
They found presence of minute magnetic particles in the brain tissues significantly increases the risk of various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
Angular magnetite particles form naturally in the brain but the ones observed by the researchers were spherical showing signs that they were present due to high-temperature formation.
Earlier this year the World Health Organisation warned that air pollution led to up to three million premature deaths every year.
The finding – described as “dreadfully shocking” by the researchers – raises a host of new questions about the health risks of air pollution.
Suspected of toxicity, the particles of iron oxide could conceivably contribute to diseases like Alzheimer’s – though evidence for this is lacking.
“That nanoparticles of industrially generated magnetite are able to make their way into the brain tissues is disturbing”.
Researchers found the particles in the brains of a group of people from Mexico and Manchester, some of whom had Alzheimer’s when they died.
Researchers in the United Kingdom and Mexico say they can not say for sure whether there is a causal link between these nanoparticles and Alzheimer’s.
“It’s interesting to see further research investigating the presence of this mineral in the brain, but it’s too early to conclude that it may have a causal role in Alzheimer’s disease or any other brain disease”.
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Microscopic magnetic particles from air pollution have been discovered in human brains, according to a study published on Monday.
