A new study has found that pregnant women’s exposure to air pollution is associated with delayed maturation of the brains in newborn children.
These concerns centre around the development of myelin, the protective coating around nerve fibers that acts as insulation, allowing brain cells to communicate quickly and efficiently.
When its development is delayed, those brain signals travel more slowly, which could affect a child’s learning and cognitive abilities during this critical developmental period.
However, the researchers emphasise that a delay in myelination during infancy isn’t necessarily harmful. Some studies suggest that slower initial brain maturation can be associated with higher cognitive abilities later in childhood, as the brain continues to develop over years.
The research, conducted in Barcelona, examined 93 newborns whose mothers’ air pollution exposure was tracked throughout pregnancy. Infants were scanned using MRI technology at about one month old to measure their white matter development, a key marker of how well the brain is maturing.
The researchers found that mothers exposed to higher levels of PM2.5 during pregnancy had infants with less of that protective insulation around the nerve fibers. The timing of exposure also mattered: early pregnancy exposure affected the brain’s cortex, while late pregnancy exposure impacted deeper white matter structures.
Gerard Martínez-Vilavella, researcher at the MRI Unit of the Radiology Department at Hospital del Mar said: ‘Our study shows that the myelination process—a progressive indicator of brain maturation—occurs at a slower rate in newborns most exposed to PM2.5 during pregnancy.
Dr. Jesús Pujol, head of the MRI Unit of the Radiology Department at Hospital del Mar, adds: ‘In the early stages of life, brain changes are large and complex. Both excessive slowdown and acceleration of brain maturation can be harmful to the child.
‘However, it remains to be determined whether the observed effect is necessarily detrimental. This study opens an exciting new field of research aimed at determining the optimal speed of brain maturation during pregnancy and understanding how the mother and placenta may act as effective filters to protect and optimize this process.’
The full research can be read here.
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