Hold your breath: Air pollution plays role in cardiac, metabolic diseases

[Guest guest]

Hold your breath: Air pollution plays role in cardiac, metabolic diseases

EAST LANSING, Mich. — To explore one of the most critical health/environment

intersections - how the very air we breathe can cause heart disease and diabetes

and contribute to the problems of obesity - Michigan State University has been

named a Clean Air Research Center by the Environmental Protection Agency.

A five-year, $8 million grant - led by MSU's Jack Harkema, a University

Distinguished Professor of pathobiology and diagnostic investigation in the

College of Veterinary Medicine - will fund three major research projects with

the creation of the Great Lakes Air Center for Integrative Environmental

Research. The research team will study the exact role air pollutants, most

notably fine particles and ozone, have on cardiometabolic syndrome, a collection

of interrelated risk factors leading to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases

that affect about one third of adult Americans.

Signs of cardiometabolic syndrome include high blood pressure and sugar levels,

abnormal triglycerides and cholesterol as well as obesity; all warning signs for

the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes and atherosclerosis,

Harkema said.

" In tandem, the cardiometabolic syndrome and air pollution threaten human health

worldwide, " he said. " We propose that not only are individuals with pre-existing

abnormalities at greater risk for the health effects of air pollution exposure

but that air pollution itself may promote the development of cardiometabolic

syndrome. "

MSU was one of four Clean Air Research Centers named by the EPA; Harvard

University, the University of Washington in Seattle and Emory University/Georgia

Institute of Technology in Atlanta were the other recipients. The $32 million

federal effort aims to study a range of exposures to air pollution sources and

their health effects across different life stages, among susceptible and

vulnerable populations, and across communities where exposures may be of greater

health risk.

" Air pollution in the Great Lakes region is complex due to a large diversity of

multipollutant ‘airsheds' (the atmospheric equivalent of watersheds), " said

Harkema, whose research team includes investigators from MSU, the University of

Michigan and Ohio State University. " This complexity is due to a large

assortment of emission sources, including heavy industry, dense motor vehicle

traffic and high concentrations of coal-fired power plants.

" The health effects of these multipollutant airsheds are complex and

understudied. "

The newly established Clean Air Research Center at MSU will specifically:

* Explore how air pollution, specifically fine particulate matter and ozone,

causes adverse cardiovascular effects (such as increased blood pressure) and

other facets of the cardiometabolic syndrome (such as insulin resistance). Led

by Harkema, the project will explore how exposure to multipollutant atmospheres

in the Great Lakes may contribute to cardiovascular and metabolic disorders in

laboratory rodents that mimic susceptible individuals.

* Investigate whether short-term exposure to air pollution in humans

instigate insulin resistance and elevate blood pressure. These studies will be

led by Brook at the University of Michigan.

* Determine the long-term impacts of chronic exposure to air pollution and

fine particulate matter. Led by Sanjay Rajagopalan from Ohio State University,

the project will also use rodent models to study the correlation between air

pollution and diet and genetics.

In addition to the three main projects, researchers at the new center will

collect and characterize air pollution data for use by all the investigators

" Results from this important environmental health research will provide much

needed information to protect human health and to safeguard the natural

environment, " said Anastas, EPA's assistant administrator in the Office of

Research and Development.

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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives

through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU

is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and

extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide

who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.