British scientists are about to launch a remarkable research project that will demonstrate how the air we breathe affects our brains. They say this research is critical to understanding the key medical question of how air pollution causes dementia.
In recent years, scientists have discovered that air pollution is one of the most harmful threats to human health, and it has been implicated in causing cancer, heart disease, diabetes, low birthrate, and many other health conditions. I showed you what I’m doing.
Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute now plan to investigate the institute’s involvement in neurodegenerative phenomena through a research project titled “Rapid.” The research project, funded by the charity Race Against Dementia, is due to start tomorrow.
Rapid involves scientists investigating the exact process by which tiny pollution particles cause dementia, and the research could provide insight into how air particles commonly cause disease, and It may also help develop new drugs to combat the progression of symptoms such as: Alzheimer’s disease.
“Air pollution is not generally associated with dementia. However, epidemiologists have recently discovered that fine particles in the air are actually quite closely linked to the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.” said Professor Charles Swanton, one of the project leaders and Deputy Clinical Director at Crick Hospital. “We want to know exactly how tiny particles in the air can have profound effects on our brains, and use that knowledge to develop new drugs to treat dementia.”
The main types of air pollution consist of suspensions of microscopic solid particles and droplets. These are produced from car and truck exhaust, factories, dust, pollen, volcanoes, wildfires, and other sources and are known as particulate matter 2.5 or simply PM2.5.
These particles are less than 2.5 millionths of a meter in diameter, approximately 30 times finer than a human hair, and are so small that they can penetrate deep into the human body. In the case of dementia, PM2.5 is thought to be inhaled and enter the brain through the olfactory bulb, a round mass of tissue that sits above the nasal cavity and plays an important role in processing olfactory information.
“In the brain, PM2.5 appears to be taken up by immune cells in the central nervous system, and we think that neurodegeneration may then begin,” Swanton said.
However, it is not clear exactly how this process unfolds and leads to dementia, and the Rapid Project’s main aim is to find out whether PM2.5 causes the lumps in brain tissue that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. The purpose is to clarify the exact process by which it is formed. .
“We have ample evidence linking exposure to PM2.5 particles and brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but are we unsure whether these actually cause neurodegeneration directly or whether they affect vulnerable populations? We don’t know yet whether it is accelerating processes that are already occurring,” said Sonia Gandhi, head of the Neurodegenerative Biology Laboratory at Crick and University College London.
Researchers at Crick University believe that air pollution causes dementia through one of three different mechanisms. PM2.5 particles directly accelerate the process of protein aggregation in the brain, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
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Alternatively, the arrival of particulates may interfere with the brain’s ability to remove aggregates. In other words, PM2.5 interferes with the body’s cell removal systems, making it difficult to remove other proteins that cause diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Third, it has been suggested that PM2.5 is captured by the brain’s immune cells called microglia, and that these cells may be responsible for the inflammation that causes the development of dementia.
Research to uncover the mechanisms involved in the cause of dementia focuses not only on animal models but also on in vitro experiments using human stem cells.
“If we can understand these mechanisms in more detail, we can use that knowledge to develop treatments to reduce the effects of air pollutants and perhaps one day prevent the effects of the environment on brain diseases,” Gandhi said. Ta.
