title: Air pollution and your brain: what do you need to know right now.
abstract: Research links air pollution mostly to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The effects of air pollution on the central nervous system (CNS) are not broadly recognized. Urban outdoor pollution is a global public health problem particularly severe in megacities and in underdeveloped countries, but large and small cities in the United States and the United Kingom are not spared. Fine and ultrafine particulate matter (UFPM) defined by aerodynamic diameter (<2.5-μm fine particles, PM2.5, and <100-nm UFPM) pose a special interest for the brain effects given the capability of very small particles to reach the brain. In adults, ambient pollution is associated to stroke and depression, whereas the emerging picture in children show significant systemic inflammation, immunodysregulation at systemic, intratechal and brain levels, neuroinflammation and brain oxidative stress, along with the main hallmarks of Alzheimer and Parkinson's diseases: hyperphosphorilated tau, amyloid plaques and misfolded α-synuclein. Animal models exposed to particulate matter components show markers of both neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Epidemiological, cognitive, behavioral and mechanistic studies into the association between air pollution exposures and the development of CNS damage particularly in children are of pressing importance for public health and quality of life. Primary health providers have to include a complete prenatal and postnatal environmental and occupational history to indoor and outdoor toxic hazards and measures should be taken to prevent or reduce further exposures.
authors.affiliation: 1The Center for Structural and Functional Neurosciences,The University of Montana,Missoula,MT,USA.
authors.forename: Lilian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calderón-Garcidueñas
authors.affiliation: 2Instituto de Medicina Forense,Universidad Veracruzana,Boca del Río,Veracruz,México.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calderón-Garcidueñas
authors.affiliation: 3Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera,Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México,Mexico City,Mexico.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Torres-Jardón
authors.affiliation: 4Hospital Médica Sur,México DF,México.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Avila-Ramírez
authors.affiliation: 5Auditory Research Center,Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine,Erie,PA,USA.
authors.forename: Randy J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kulesza
authors.affiliation: 6Department of Neuroscience,Carleton University,Ottawa,ON,Canada.
authors.forename: Amedeo D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Angiulli
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter
keywords: children; cognition and mood effects; neurodegeneration; neuroinflammation; particulate matter; stroke and depression; urban air pollution