Scientists of the Oregon University of Science and Health revealed that the chronic effects of smoke from cigarettes as a result of passive smoking leads to a decrease in body weight and cognitive disorders, especially in men. The new consequences from the bad habit are reported in the environmental Health Perspectives magazine.
In the course of the study, experts checked how passive smoking affects the brain and metabolism of 62 mice exposed to cigarette smoke within ten months. For this, a special device was used, which “smoked” a pack of cigarettes in a ventilated laboratory. In one group of tested animals were wild-type mice, in the other – rodents, in the body of which the human Tau-protein was developed, which plays an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
It turned out that the cigarette smoke reduced the body weight in wild-type mice, which were also worse to pass the labyrinths. Scientists revealed in males more significant than the females, changes in the hippocampus – the center of the brain, which is responsible for the formation of long-term memory. Also, the cigarette smoke had a profound effect on the activity of the brain of rodents, as well as the expression of genes in nerve cells.
Although wild-type animals were more injured, scientists believe that the results of the experiment indicate the detrimental consequences of secondary smoking for the nervous system of the surrounding smokers of people, while men are most vulnerable.