Pre-natal exposure to urban AIR pollution and pre- and post-Natal Brain development

Informazioni relative al progetto

AIR-NB

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 785994

DOI

10.3030/785994

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 9 Agosto 2018

Data di avvio 1 Settembre 2018

Data di completamento 31 Dicembre 2023

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Costo totale

€ 2 499 992,00

Contributo UE

€ 2 499 992,00

Coordinato da

FUNDACION PRIVADA INSTITUTO DE SALUD GLOBAL BARCELONA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - AIR-NB (Pre-natal exposure to urban AIR pollution and pre- and post-Natal Brain development)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-03-01 al 2023-12-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

Air pollution is the main urban-related environmental hazard. It appears to affect brain development, although current evidence is inadequate given the lack of studies during the most vulnerable stages of brain development and the lack of brain anatomical structure and regional connectivity data underlying these effects. Of particular interest is the prenatal period, when brain structures are forming and growing, and when the effect of in utero exposure to environmental factors may cause permanent brain injury.
AIR-NB aimed to provide a robust and comprehensive evaluation of the impact of maternal exposure to urbain air pollutants on fetal and neonatal brain development.
Towards this aim it establishes a new pregnancy cohort of 1,080 pregrant women and 1,032 neonates in Barcelona (BISC: Barcelona Life Study Cohort), Spain. Brain development was characterized by brain ultrasound at gestional week of 32, brain MRI at 28 days of life, Bayley cognitive test at 18 months of age, and attentional eye-tracking experiments at 6 and 18 months of age. We developped an innovative exposure assessment framework integrating objective data on time-activity patterns with dispersion, land use regression, and hybrid models and campaigns of personnel and home outdoor air pollution monitoring to estimate maternal exposure level as well as inhaled dose of black carbon (BC), NO2, PM2.5 elemental content, in the main microenvironments for pregnant women (home, workplace, and commuting routes). We also assessed maternal exposure to noise by integrating measurements at participants' home-outdoor using noise monitors with modelled microenvironmental levels of noise. We also assessed greenspace exposure using high-resolution maps. We evaluated the modification of associations by SES, stress (cortisol levels and perceived stress), physical activity (objective and subjective measures), maternal cognition and mental health, their mitigation by urban greenness and canopy volume, and their mediation by ultrasound measures of placental hemodynamic function. Black carbon particles were detected in placenta and cord blood.
Preliminary analyses demonstrate: urban air pollution is associate with impaired pre-natal and early-life brain development. These results will create an impulse to implement policy interventions that genuinely protect the health of urban citizens.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

AIR-NB has created a new population-based cohort named Barcelona Life Study Cohort (BiSC) of 1070 pregnant women with singleton gestations who reside in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Women were recruited during their first prenatal visit. Follow-up during pregnancy comprised of trimestral ultrasound evaluations of fetal anthropometry and placental function, trimester 3 evaluation of fetal brain development, and maternal blood and urine collection. Assessment of motor and cognitive development and eye tracking at months 6 and 18 has been conducted using questionnaires, psychometric exams and tests. A new methodology for neonatal brain MRI capture has been successfully developed and implemented for the acquisition of anatomical T2-weighted MRI, DTI, and functional MRI for the BiSC newborns during their first 28 days of life. The exam was conducted at Betabrain, a pioneering brain research setting, that provides all the infrastructure for attending infants.
Air-NB has measured time-activity patterns for all pregnant women twice (1st and 3rd trimesters) using a combination of smartphones to record the time-stamped geolocation and personal monitors to record time-stamped physical activity level. Personal, indoor and outdoor air pollution levels of PM2.5 PM2.5 elements, black carbon and NO2 have been measured for pregnant women whose first and third trimesters of pregnancy were assessed before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also obtained measures of home-outdoor noise and home-indoor temperature/humidity as well as a very detailed characterization of the home indoor and outdoor environments. After the start of the pandemic, we activated a contingency plan by limiting the fieldwork to obtaining measures of personal, indoor and outdoor NO2, time-activity pattern, and home-indoor temperature for all pregnant women. We are developing an air pollution exposure assessment framework integrating data on time-activity patterns with a hybrid geographical modeling and personal and home-outdoor air pollution monitoring to estimate maternal exposure level as well as inhaled dose of NO2, PM2.5 black carbon and PM2.5 constituents at the main microenvironments for pregnant women for each participant during each week of her pregnancy. Post-natal personal exposure to NO2 is measured for all infants at 6 and 18 months. Air-NB also assess maternal exposure to noise by integrating noise levels and noise peak indicators measured at participants’ bedroom window using noise monitors together with modeled microenvironmental levels of noise to all pregnant women.
Air-NB has established a database on placental function (uteroplacental and fetoplacental vascular resistances) using Doppler ultrasound measurements for all pregnant women. Air-NB collected placenta biopsies of fresh placenta tissue from the maternal and foetal side of cotyledons and stored sealed at −80°C, including some biopsies for DNA and RNA extraction, for more than 600 women. Black carbon particles in placentas is being measured in the lab of Prof. Nawrot at University of Hasselt, Belgium. A pilot study showed detectable levels in all samples and a notable variability of concentrations.
Data cleaning and data set preparation is ongoing.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

AIR-NB will provide evidence on the most important urban-related determinants of brain development during one of the most vulnerable periods for its development, and will thereby have important implications for developing community interventions in urban planning.
Studying the structural and functional brain effects of air pollution exposure during foetal and neurodevelopment during early life is important. These pre-natal and early-life effects could have long-lasting consequences and an accompanying societal burden, which is important both for the general public and for policymakers. Demonstrating its impact on infant’s brains could create an impulse to definitively implement policy interventions that genuinely protect the health of urban citizens glob, and the pregnant women and infants particularly.
For public health interventions, there is a need to disentangle the effects of the various anthropogenic pollutants in urban air, and the underlying sources that cause the observed association with brain damage. For example, it is important to distinguish the effect on brain development of NO2 from that of particles, especially in European cities with large fleets of diesel-powered vehicles.
By understanding the role of the placenta in how air pollution leads to impaired brain development, I will be able to discover part of the causal nature of this relationship, which, among others benefits, will provide solid evidence to reinforce arguments for obstetricians and policymakers in implementing feasible and achievable individual- and community-level interventions to protect pregnant women.
I will enhance the quality of the exposure measurement during pregnancy and accurately identify specific time windows of susceptibility for brain development during pregnancy. Detecting these critical periods is fundamental for preventive purposes during pregnancy. Interventions have been shown to be more efficient when carried out during earlier vulnerability windows.
I will contribute to our understanding of pre-natal and post-natal brain development in one of the largest studies in the general population to date, and which will use the most advanced imaging techniques based on ultrasound and MRI brain measures. This work will impact research on the brain connectome (map of neural connections) and neuroscience in general.

Personal exposure pregant volunteer

MRI

MRI

Eye-Tracking test

Personal exposure pregant volunteer