Air pollution could cause brain damage

Studies have shown that air pollution could be a cause of brain damage and Alzheimer's. A study led by Cure Alzheimer's Research Consortium member Dr Sam Gandy has shown that being exposed to high levels of air pollutants - such as car exhaust fumes in cities - may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

In 2004 a study took place on young adults and children who had been victims of accidents in Mexico. Scientists studied the brain tissue of the victims, finding that everyone of them had Alzheimer's protein in areas throughout their brains. The only link that tied all of the test subjects to one another was being subjected to the high levels of air pollution in Mexico City. Scientists suggested that Alzheimer's disease may start developing early in life and that high levels of pollutants in the air could be a trigger for this development.

Dr Gandy has picked up where this research left off. Although he was inspired in his own research by the findings in Mexico, Dr Gandy said: "You rarely see this kind of pathology before the age of 40 and never, ever in children." He says that although the study in Mexico suggested a relationship between air pollution and Alzheimer's, the evidence presented was circumstantial.

Dr Gandy's research has focused on how peptide levels in the brain are affected by pollution elements - like nickel nanoparticles. The peptides being measured are those found in high levels in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. Dr Gandy has exposed mice to 'air pollution' - a mixture of the most common nanoparticles and gases that are found in city smog - for three hours. The mice were then autopsied 24 hours after exposure. Dr Gandy found a 72-129 per cent increase in the Alzheimer-causing peptide levels.

Dr Gandy said: "We suspect that humans will have an even more dramatic reaction to air pollution than mice because the human molecule is far stickier, making it highly prone to clumping and accumulation." The levels of peptides in the human brain could therefore be more drastically affected by the continued exposure to air pollution, risking brain damage and Alzheimer's disease. Dr Gandy added: "We wanted to see if we could better explain why so many people were showing signs of Alzheimer's at such a young age … The results of this study clearly show an urgent need to better understand this link."