Researchers have already seen a connection between high levels of particles from traffic and reduced fertility in women. Now new international research reveals what that connection looks like. Among other things, researchers have looked at how close women live to busy roads and calculated how much harmful particles are there.
– When you make models like this so that you theoretically calculate how much it is, and then look at the woman’s fertility, you see negative connections. The more particles in the air, the worse the fertility, says Pauliina Damdimopoulou, researcher in reproductive toxicology at the Karolinska Institutet.
Gets into immature egg cells
Together with researchers from Portugal and Belgium, she has succeeded in following the path of air pollution particles from the lungs into the blood, to finally end up in the ovaries, among other things.
When you illuminate tissue samples from the ovaries with a laser, you can see the particles from the traffic as white dots. In this way, the researchers were able to establish that the particles even entered immature egg cells.
“Leads to inflammation”
The particles contain chemicals and heavy metals that can affect how the egg cell develops.
– Such very small particles are like sharp knives, one could say. They damage the cells and molecules, which leads to inflammation, which is bad for the cells and then they can die, says Pauliina Damdimopouolou.
– Considering what we know about air pollution and human health, it is better to live a little further away from busy roads.