For a few years, scientists have been sounding the alarm: the exposure of pregnant women to urban pollution – specifically, to the very poisonous nitrogen dioxide (NO2) that comes out of exhaust pipes – affects the growth of fetuses, both in terms of their physical size and their mental development and respiratory function. Now, a group of researchers from Queen Mary University, in London, has taken a step further by finding the contaminating particles in the placentas of pregnant women, coming from their lungs .
Scientists examined the placentas of five nonsmoking pregnant women who delivered healthy children by cesarean section, isolating their macrophages, cells of the human defense system that are responsible for ingesting and destroying pathogenic bacteria, various biological debris, and potentially harmful foreign compounds. . The first light microscope analysis detected 72 dark , soot-like particles among a total of 3,500 cells. And its shape, as they later verified with an electron microscope, was very similar to that of other blackish particles found in macrophages in the lungs of people exposed to city fumes.
The scientists, who presented the conclusions of their work at an international congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) held in Paris, affirm that they must carry out more analysis to confirm the data and that they have no empirical evidence that harmful particles reach the fetus Although, as Dr. Norrice Liu, co-author of the study, told the British newspaper The Guardian , “they do not have to reach the child’s body to have a negative impact; it is enough that they are present in the placenta ” .
Bad fumes wreak havoc
The discovery is a confirmation of what the experts already suspected, both indirectly – by the effects on the development and health of the fetuses of mothers living in highly polluted cities – and by experiments carried out on laboratory animals . According to these tests, the breathed toxic particles did indeed reach the placenta through the bloodstream.
The Queen Mary University scientists’ finding joins other recent findings that warn about the penetration capacity of the chemical compounds we breathe, beyond the lungs. For example, in September 2016, British researchers, this time from the University of Lancaste r, found small metal particles – magnetite nanospheres – in the brain tissue of inhabitants of Manchester and Mexico City , probably remnants of atmospheric pollution that they penetrate through the olfactory nerve. The presence of these nanoparticles could increase the risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s or other neurodegenerative diseases.
According to a study published this summer by the National School of Health, 93,000 Spaniards lost their lives prematurely over the last decade as a result of air pollution, especially by inhaling the aforementioned nitrogen dioxide.
Photo: Jorge Junior / Flickr
