Numerous studies warn about the dangers of exposure of babies and children to pollution and associate pollution even with learning problems.
In addition, the negative impact is already seen in pregnancy. But until now it was still unclear how air pollution affects the formation of organs in the womb.
A team of scientists led by Texas A&M University in the US reveals that prenatal pollution exposure has adverse effects. According to the study `` Adverse organogenesis and long-term metabolic syndrome caused by prenatal exposure to fine particles '', published in the journal PNAS (Academy of Sciences of the United States), "Pollution not only causes pregnancy complications, but also metabolic effects in babies and changes in the size of their main organs."
"Maternal exposure to ultrafine fine particles (ammonium sulfate) alters embryonic and fetal survival and growth and shortens the duration of pregnancy in pregnant rats", says Sinc Renyi Zhang, lead author of the work and researcher in the Department of Atmospheric Science at the American university. And adds:
"Our model reveals, in addition to a reduction in the duration of pregnancy and birth weight, an increase in the concentrations of glucose and free fatty acids in the plasma, an increase in the accumulation of lipids in the liver, and a decrease in the relaxation of the aorta. "
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The team of scientists, in which the Mexican Mario Molina, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 participates for his research on atmospheric chemistry and the prediction of the thinning of the ozone layer due to the emission of industrial gases, exposed pregnant rats to high Aerosol levels of ultrafine ammonium sulfate and monitored the development of the offspring.
According to the researchers, by shortening the duration of pregnancy, air pollution causes a lower body weight in certain organs compared to rats born without exposure to pollution during pregnancy.
"Exposure to fine particles of pollution decreases the weights of the brain, heart, intestine, lungs and spleen."In other cases, the organs were enlarged, explains Sinc Renyi Zhang: "The relative weights of the spleen and the thymus increase when the mother weans." In addition, he adds that exposure during pregnancy also "It causes hypertrophy of the kidneys, alters the homeostasis of lipids and glucose, and induces endothelial dysfunction in the offspring".
However, the authors do not believe that exposure to particles * "necessarily predisposes to overweight or obesity in adulthood." *
In Babies and more The greater pollution, the more hospital admissions of children for respiratory diseases Although this work has been done in rats, Zhang and the rest of the researchers stress that the animal model provides a very useful guide for epidemiological studies:
"Well-controlled exposure experiments with animal models offer important advantages for air pollution exposure studies and promise the development of therapeutic interventions and treatment procedures."
For all this, the study authors stress the importance of following strategies to reduce prenatal exposure to fine particle contamination.
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