•Exposure to air pollution is associated with cognitive deficits and an increased risk of depression.

•A recent study examined how air pollutants impact brain networks to mediate changes in cognitive function and enhance the risk of depression.

•The results suggest that genetic susceptibility to depression combined with high levels of exposure to air pollution have a disproportional effect on brain networks involved in cognition and stress.

•Exposure to air pollutants was associated with activation of brain networks expressing depression-associated genes, suggesting that exposure to air pollution may cause adverse mental health effects by acting on the same brain networks related to genetic mechanisms of depression.

•This suggests that individuals with a genetic susceptibility to depression may be more vulnerable to the adverse effects of air pollution on mental health.

Besides having a detrimental effect on physical health, prolonged exposure to air pollutants is also associated with adverse mental healthTrusted Source effects.

Exposure to air pollutants, including fine particulate matter, may be associated with impaired cognitive functioning and depression.

Fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, consists of tiny inhalable particles smaller than 2.5 microns. These particles commonly come from industrial sources and vehicles.

How exposure to PM2.5 might increase the risk of depression is not well understood.

Also, scientists do not know whether air pollution can interact with a genetic predisposition for depression to increase the likelihood of depression.

Individuals with a genetic predisposition for a particular disease may have an increased likelihood of developing the condition in the presence of certain environmental factors or due to behaviors such as smoking.

A recent study investigated the effects of PM2.5 exposure,in combination with a genetic predisposition for depression,on brain networks involved in cognition and social stress.

The study’s lead author,Dr. Hao Yang Tan, a scientist at the Lieber Institute in Baltimore, MD, told Medical News Today:

The study reveals for the first time how air pollution and genes interact with one another to impact important cognitive and emotional circuitry of the brain.Air pollution is changing the expression of genes that are conducive to depression.”

Read more- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/exposure-to-air-pollutants-may-amplify-risk-for-depression-in-healthy-individuals