Literature suggests possible association between mental health and exposure to ultrafine/nano-particles.
In it an emerging issue or a discipline already emerged ?
How much do we know about it?
This is an interesting question, and I consider that this is an emerging discipline. As far as I remember, the association between exposure to nanoparticles and UFP and possible effects on the brain, come from publications of the previous decade. I can't remember something earlier than that. Despite over 15 years of publications related to the topic, there is still a little number of articles in the field. You may consider that I am biased by my experience on exposure by inhalation and don't have a broader view of how the exposure by ingestion, topic, or even by injection. The publications by Calderon-Garcidueñas and the groups she collaborates with, give interesting evidence suggesting that some mental effects could be linked to inhalation of UFP. The epidemiological data is still too young, as far as I understand.
Mr. Ernesto Alfaro-Moreno also answered your question above, and definitely its an emerging discipline. There I am sharing you an article that related to your question, and I hope this will helpful to you: DOI : 10.2174/1568026615666150108124533 ( Nanoparticles in the Treatment of Mental Disorders: A New Tool in the Psychiatric Medication)
Thanks for the reply, Ernesto and Maimati.
My understanding is that there are several mechanisms to consider here. Literature suggests connections between urban/road/aircraft/transport traffic exposure and mental health , but relevant mechanisms are still debated.
Firstly, in the urban area, we may suppose that the higher the UFPs concentration , the closer the combustion sources. Likely this implies to be far away from green areas. It seems that green nature "naturally" has a huge positive psychological impact on human beings (that's human nature).
Secondly, noise is an issue. Literature suggests connections between mental health and exposure to road/aircraft traffic noise.
Finally, there may be a "direct" effect due to the translocation of UFPs into the brain. But this is still a challenging issue. Just to provide an example of questions: is there, and how different is, the impact, and the mechanism, of solid vs liquid UFPs (or should I say nanoparticles, considering that particles below 30 nm are supposed to behave differently here) on the brain?
Dear Francesca, you have a good view of the topic, and I am not sure if I can contribute much more, due to the apparent lack of information available. Considering that this is a rather new field, the amount of questions is by far larger than the answers we have, but I would like to put forward some ideas.
1) The role of noise, nature, visual contamination and so on, is certainly far from my field of expertise, but I have no doubts about the effect these factors have on mental health.
2) UFP are our main concern when it comes to the possible systemic effects of urban particulate matter. If the translocation of particles is either direct from the olfactory bulb to the brain, or via alveolar-vascular-brain barrier translocation, the rate of translocation is poorly understood and therefore very difficult to assess the organ exposure. Some authors suggest that particles under 100 nm have a rate of translocation under 10% of what is deposited. But this information is not a consensus and therefore difficult to elaborate on this issue.
3) I think that the mechanisms of action are related to very different aspects. On one hand, we can consider the physical/chemical characteristics of the particles and the role of single components and mixtures to trigger certain cellular effects such as cellular death (necrosis, apoptosis), metabolic alterations, cellular dysfunctions and so on. On the other hand, there are effects that seem to be more related to the amount/mass of particles than the composition, and some effects may be dose-dependent, and some others may have a threshold, that once reached trigger a full response.
Once again, Francesca, you bring very interesting questions in our field to RG.
This one looks interesting and really related to the question.
Article Planetary Health and the Future of Human Capacity: The Incre...
Article Air Pollution: Mechanisms of Neuroinflammation & CNS Disease
Thanks a lot, Ernesto.
Interesting news in Science published on August 2018 claimed that
"Air pollution could be making us less intelligent"
(https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/air-pollution-could-be-making-us-less-intelligent )
based on findings by Zhang et al. on "The impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance" - PNAS 115 (37), 9193–9197, 2018.
A Nature Communications just published (today, May the 15th, 2019) claims "Declines in mental health associated with air pollution and temperature variability in China", by Tao Xue et al. (volume 10, Article number: 2165).
I would definitely say that the subject undoubtedly merits special attention .
Indeed, Francesca. I think this is a very hot topic to keep an eye on.
Hi everybody
first it is dependent to nano-particle size and content. metal nano-particle is more toxic than carbon based particles.
second, the espouse route is a critical variable for potential toxic effects of particles
third, brain high lipid content enhance the vulnerability of this organ to penetration of hydrophobic antiparticle( with zeta potential near the zero).
forth, because oxidative stress and inflammation are two main underlying mechanisms of nano particles, the CNS system will be at the risk.
fifth, the effect of metal nanopartcle on brain is well documented
best
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