Air Pollution and ASDs: Homing In on an Environmental Risk Factor

This study provides some really nice continuing evidence of the potential relationship between air pollution and autism across the entire United States,” says Heather Volk, an epidemiologist at the University of Southern California, who was not involved in the study. Previous work in animal models has suggested a possible mechanism for how air pollution exposure may increase ASD risk. Mice exposed to concentrated ambient ultrafine PM showed ventriculomegaly, altered neurochemistry, and activation of glial cells in the brain.13 These responses, which occurred preferentially in male mice, signal an inflammatory response. Weisskopf says that an inflammatory response in the mother or developing fetus is currently a leading hypothesis for how PM may increase ASD risk. But any environmental risk, researchers say, almost certainly interacts with genetic factors that either increase or decrease ASD risk. “In a complex disease like autism, it’s not going to be just genes or just environment,” Volk says. References 1. Hallmayer J, et al. Genetic heritability and shared environmental factors among twin pairs with autism. Arch Gen Psychiatry 68(11):1095–1102 (2011); doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.76. 2. Raz R, et al. Autism spectrum disorder and particulate matter air pollution before, during, and after pregnancy: a nested case–control analysis within the Nurses’ Health Study II Cohort. Environ Health Perspect 123(3):264–270 (2015); doi: 10.1289/ehp.1408133. 3. Wind...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Featured News Science Selection Air Pollution Children's Health March 2015 Neurologic Health Particulate Matter (PM) Risk Assessment Source Type: research