Abstract
Epidemiology studies indicated that air pollution has been associated with adverse neurological effects in human. Moreover, the secretion of glucocorticoid (GC) affects the mood regulation, and the negative feedback of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors (GR) inhibits the GC secretion. Meanwhile, the over secretion of GC can interfere the immune system and induce neurotoxicity. In the present study, the human test showed that the secretion of the cortisol in plasma was elevated after exposure in heavy air pollution. In the mouse model, we found that breathing the highly polluted air resulted in the negative responses of the mood-related behavioral tests and morphology of hippocampus, as well as the over secretion of GC in plasma, down regulation of GR, and up-regulation of cytokine and chemokine in the hippocampus. When considering the interrelated trends between the hippocampal GR, inflammatory factors, and plasmatic GC, we speculated that PM2.5 exposure could lead to the increased secretion of GC in plasma by decreasing the expression of GR in hippocampus, which activated the inflammation response, and finally induced neurotoxicity, suggesting that PM2.5 exposure negatively affects mood regulation. When combined with the results of the human test, it indicated that exposure to ambient air particles increased the risk of mental disorder.
Highlights
In recent years, when compared with the past, the mental illnesses are increasing in China, such as depression, autism, anxiety, and other related diseases, especially in children
We found that exposure to PM2.5 increased the plasma cortisol levels in human (Figure 1a)
Consistent with the results of human, we found that exposure to PM2.5 significantly increased plasma GC levels in mice (Figure 1b)
Summary
In recent years, when compared with the past, the mental illnesses are increasing in China, such as depression, autism, anxiety, and other related diseases, especially in children. The air pollution is imagined as one of the factors. Epidemiology and toxicology studies showed that PM2.5 could induce neurodevelopmental disorders, which can cause many cognition-related diseases, including autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) [1,2,3], schizophrenia, anxiety-spectrum disorders, and depression [4,5,6,7]. Population-based researches showed that exposure to particulate matter (PM) from prenatal to first postnatal year led to higher risk of ASD [1,3]. Even in elderly stages, severe urban air pollution impaired cognitive functions and caused white matter
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