Barrow study shows how wildfire smoke may harm brain health

Wildfire smoke is not only harmful to the lungs. A new study from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix explains how exposure to smoke inhalation can cause damage to the brain.

“We know that there are associations between smoke exposure and Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, but we don’t know how or why that might be happening on a cellular level,” said Barrow research scientist Adam Schuller.

In a study published in the journal NeuroToxicology, Schuller and coauthors show smoke can trigger inflammation in the brain.

“Inflammation is our body’s natural response to bad things coming into our body, but sometimes the level of that inflammation can be so high that it can actually cause damage, and in this case, we saw that it has the potential to damage neurons,” Schuller said.

Schuller said that neuron damage could potentially lead to other problems.

“Neurons are the cells that give our bodies the ability to perform functions like memory or learning or motor function,” Schuller said. “The loss of those cells, or vulnerability of those cells to damage can contribute to poor health outcomes.”

Schuller said more research is still needed to understand how exposure to smoke at different levels or at various stages of life may make certain populations more vulnerable to neurodegenerative diseases.