Chronic exposure to passive smoking leads to weight loss and triggers cognitive impairment says a new study from the University of Oregon (United States) conducted on mice. The results of this study will soon be published in the journal Health envirmental perpectives.
“Many people still smoke, and these results suggest that the long-term health effects may be quite severe for people chronically exposed to second-hand smoke,” explained Prof. Jacob Raber, professor of behavioral neuroscience, who studied the effects of tobacco on 62 mice exposed for 2 hours and a half a day for 10 months to cigarette smoke. The rodents then performed behavioral and cognitive tests and their lung and brain tissue were examined. Main conclusions:
- Cigarette smoke impacts males more than females, with researchers noting changes in the hippocampal region of the brain in male mice compared to female mice. They also noticed that males were disproportionately affected by body weight loss compared to females.
- Exposure to cigarette smoke has cognitive and behavioral repercussions (in this case the researchers calculated their swimming speed and their movement in a maze) in all mice, whether they are carriers of Alzheimer’s disease or that they are healthy.
Tobacco also increases behavioral problems in children
Researchers from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), in collaboration with the CHUs of 6 cities chosen for their different air qualities (Reims, Créteil, Strasbourg, Clermond-Ferrand, Bordeaux and Marseille ) had already shown that early exposure to tobacco (during and after pregnancy) was linked to a risk of behavioral disorders in one in five children. The results of their study were published a few years ago in the Plos One review.
“These observations seem to confirm those made in animals, namely that the nicotine contained in tobacco smoke can have a neurotoxic effect on the brain. During pregnancy, it stimulates certain receptors and is the cause of structural alterations. In the first months of life, it generates a protein imbalance at the origin of altered neuronal growth “explain Inserm researchers.
Sources:
Postnatal Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure Related to Behavioral Problems in Children, Plos One, September 2015
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