Smog travels across the placenta of pregnant women and thus threatens the health of newborns: a study confirms this.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousAir pollution particles found in the placenta of women expecting a child
In pregnancy, air pollution goes straight to the placenta. This is the shocking new news from a new British study that smog travels across the placenta of pregnant women and thus threatens the health of newborns.
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London, in a study presented at the international congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) in Paris, have found the first evidence that air pollution particles travel through the lungs of women expecting a baby and settle in their placentas.
Toxic air is already strongly linked to harm done to fetuses, but how this damage is perpetuated was still unknown. Now, the new study, which involves mothers living in London, has revealed sooty particles in the placentas. And it is entirely possible that the particles also entered fetuses.
"This is a worrying problem: There is a massive association between the air pollution a mother breathes and the effect it has on the fetus," said Dr. Lisa Miyashita, of the Queen Mary.
A number of previous studies had already shown that smog significantly increases the risk of premature birth and low birth weight, leading to permanent damage to health. While another large study of over 500 births in London, published in December, confirmed the link and prompted doctors to say that the implications for many millions of women in polluted cities around the world are "something close to catastrophe. of public health ".
A systematic review
The British researchers examined the placenta of five non-smoking women, of which they isolated the "macrophages", ie the immune system cells which incorporate harmful particles such as pathogens and pollution.
Using an optical microscope, 72 dark cells were found among about 3.500 macrophages, then with a powerful electron microscope they examined their shape.
The analysis showed that these closely resembled the sooty particles (created by the combustion of carbon) found in the macrophages of the lung, which capture many of the polluting particles.
“It is obvious to us that these are sooty particles. Previous experiments have shown that particles breathed in by pregnant animals pass through the bloodstream into the placenta, ”says Miyashita. And although more research is needed to confirm these findings, "we don't know if the particles we found can also move into the fetus, but our evidence suggests this is indeed possible," explained pediatrician Norrice Liu, a researcher at Queen Mary University of London. "We also know that the particles don't need to enter the baby's body to have a negative effect, because if they have an effect on the placenta, it will have a direct impact on the fetus."
Children, therefore, are threatened by pollution while being theoretically protected in the womb. A figure that should make us reflect on the need for stricter policies to have cleaner air and to reduce the impact of pollution on health around the world.
Read also
- Air pollution: all the harm we are doing to children
- Air pollution promotes bone fractures and osteoporosis
- The effects of particulate matter (pm2.5) and fine dust in your body
- Fine dust: air pollution causes our brains to age quickly
- Smog: 7 consequences of pollution on children's health
Germana Carillo
