The dirty air of metropolitan areas leads to reduced mental capacity and brain damage
This was found out in the course of a study conducted by a group of scientists from Ohio State University in the United States led by Laura Fonken. The research report was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
The experiment involved two groups of mice. One of these groups, for ten months, five days a week, six hours a day, breathed polluted air, which in its parameters corresponded to the average indicators of the atmosphere of large cities in the world.
Then the scientists conducted a test that was supposed to assess the mental ability of the mice. They were placed in a brightly lit room with a closed box in which there was a small hole where rodents could crawl, fleeing from the bright light.
As a result, it turned out that mice that breathed dirty air had difficulty finding and remembering the location of this hole with difficulty than their relatives from the test group. In addition, these rodents were in a state similar to depression and suffered from unnecessary anxiety.
Scientists suggest that this is due to solid microparticles contained in polluted air. They cause inflammation in the part of the brain responsible for short-term and long-term memory, as well as the formation of emotions. In the brains of mice affected by dirty air, the structure was greatly simplified and the number of nerve cells decreased.