Poster Presentations

Session Title: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) including Non-Cognitive Aspects
Presentation Date: Friday, March 14 – Saturday, March 15, 2009

PRENATAL DIESEL EXHAUST EXPOSURE CAUSES NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES IN ADULTS

M. Sugamata¹, T. Ihara¹, K. Takeda^2
1Tochigi Institute of Clinical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Tochigi, Japan, ²Tokyo University of Science, Chiba, Japan

Background: Diesel exhaust (DE) is a major air pollutant and a fear of health impacts, and we have already reported that DEP exposure to pregnancy animal exert severe influences on the infants´ brains. In this study, we examined the influences on the risk of neurodegenerative diseases in adult of maternal DEP exposure.
Methods: Pregnant ICR mice were exposed to DEP or clean air (control), and delivered of babies in clean air. At 12 and 40 weeks after birth, brains were obtained from mice (in clean air) born from DEP-exposed and control mothers and examined by light and electron microscopy, compared between with and without DEP exposure, or between youth and adult mice.
Results: All mice with DEP exposure showed swelling of astrocytes' endfoot, apoptosis of endothelial cells, and diffuse obstruction of capillaries. Some cytoplasmic granules of scavenger cell around vessels, which has a role in blood-brain barrier, had DEP particles. Specifically, mice at 40 weeks have the abnormal structure, which it supposes with neurofibrillary tangles, and showed positive for components of paired helical filaments.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that maternal DEP exposure might effect fetal brain development and carry atrophy in the offspring. The damages of fatal brain make influences reach not only in infants and youths but also in adults, even if they live in clean environment after birth, the risk that suffers from Alzheimer's diseases etc. must be higher. Our result should be a grave warning that DEP inhalation is one of risk factors on some neurodegenerative diseases.