Exposure to wildfire smoke altered DNA structure in monkeys
San Jose Mercury News / March 8, 2022
Take a seat, chin to the sky. Insert the swab, rotate slowly and switch nostrils we know the drill. Only this time, its not a COVID test. And the nose is attached to a monkey.
Three years ago, researchers in Davis swabbed the nasal cavities of 22 captive rhesus macaque monkeys that were born just before and after the horrific 2008 wildfire season. Alterations in their DNA showed, for the first time, that exposure to wildfire smoke can create long-term changes in the way that genes function in primates, they reported in January.
Its unknown whether the same results will be found in humans, and follow-up studies are underway. But the DNA modifications suggest that like the monkeys, young people breathing in orange skies may be more susceptible to respiratory illness and brain development issues later in life. Such studies of the long-term health effects could also open the door for future treatments to mitigate the damage of smoke, which poses a growing threat as the state experiences more frequent and toxic wildfires.
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Some of the impacted regions deal with genes typically involved in immune response and neural development, meaning that smoke exposure could impact breathing and cognition in the long-run. In fact, the researchers already showed that the monkeys born after the wildfires had reduced lung capacity and impaired lung function. The team is currently looking for signs of brain damage in the exposed monkeys, but previous studies have linked air pollution to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
MORE: https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/03/08/exposure-to-wildfire-smoke-altered-dna-structure-in-monkeys/