In addition to angular, endogenous magnetite nanoparticles (left), researchers found spherical magnetite particles in postmortem human brains (middle) resembling those found in polluted air (right).COURTESY OF BARBARA MAHERIn more than three dozen postmortem human brains, scientists have detected nanoparticles of magnetite that they suspect came from the environment. The brain produces magnetite particles that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but these endogenous particles are angular in shape, whereas the newly discovered compounds are spherical. Their shape and other properties suggest that the nanoparticles were generated during high-temperature processes like combustion.
The results, published yesterday (September 5) in PNAS, suggests that inhaled magnetite, which is known to be a ubiquitous air pollutant, can make its way to the brain. Barbara Maher, an environmental scientist at the University of Lancaster, and her coauthors now speculate that this environmental magnetite could pose a health risk.
“This is the first report of iron oxide particles in brain tissue that may have come from an industrial source. As such, this opens up questions about potential neurotoxic effects from industrial pollutants that had not been previously considered,” University of Florida’s Jon Dobson, who researches the potential neurodegenerative role of biologically produced magnetic compounds and was not involved in the study, told The Scientist in an email.
In 1992, researchers discovered angular ...
