An old issue that gets worse yearly is air pollution. The heart and lungs are the organs where this atmospheric poisoning is most frequently detected. In addition, researchers recently discovered further effects of specific pollutants on the human brain.
Air pollutants can damage human brains
Researchers discovered how air pollution’s hazardous particles damage human brains by using mice as their test animals. Their findings support the hypothesis that airborne ultra-fine pollutants could enter our lungs directly, alter blood flow, and ultimately infiltrate the brain.
The fact that the pollutants remain in the brain’s cells is the most alarming aspect. It could be challenging for the immune system’s natural cleansing function to get clear of the materials once they are entrenched in the organ.
According to experts, the brain retains air pollutants longer than any other human organ whenever a system collects them when breathing in polluted conditions.
The presence of the path they discovered in rodents to humans was unknown to the authors. The blood-brain barrier, however, is most likely to allow the tiniest scale of particles to directly enter the brain. This is concerning since the barrier acts as the primary barrier that prevents hazardous and foreign substances from entering the central nervous system from other bodily parts.
Blood-brain barrier leak can cause cognitive damage
A certain amount of blood-brain barrier leak can have a substantial impact on a person’s brain and may cause serious cognitive damage, according to a study published in the journal Radiology under the title “Blood-Brain Barrier Leakage in Patients with Early Alzheimer’s Disease.”
However, the recent study is the first to demonstrate how air contaminants take advantage of the barrier and leaking we unintentionally inhale.
The blood-brain barrier is impermeable to particulate matter (PM), according to prior studies on the susceptibility of our brains. Instead, previous studies contend that the central nervous system’s direct connections to the gut or nose prevent PMs from entering those parts of the brain.
The findings are significant because the impacts of air pollution regularly affect the cardiovascular system.
