Air pollution can increase the risk of diabetes

The research team investigated how diesel particles affect the intestine Keystone / Martin Meissner

Diesel particles have been found to trigger a reaction in the gut of mice that contributes to the development of diabetes, according to a study by the University Hospital Zurich and the University of Basel.

“It has been known for some time that more people develop diabetes in places with high air pollution,” said study leader Claudia Cavelti-Weder, a senior physician and endocrinologist at the University Hospital Zurich.

However, the exact mechanisms by which air pollution leads to the development of so-called type 2 diabetes (adult-onset diabetes) are not yet fully understood. The research team led by Cavelti-Weder has investigated how diesel particles affect the intestine. The resultsExternal link were published in the scientific journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology.

“The intestine is often not taken into account when it comes to air pollution,” Cavelti-Weder said. Yet air pollution also plays a role for the intestines, she said. Our body has a sophisticated cleaning mechanism that keeps certain particles away from the lungs. So-called cilia transport dirt particles into the throat. Some of them eventually reach the intestines when swallowed.

Scavenger cells

The researchers administered either diesel particles or a neutral control substance to mice over a period of up to ten months.

They found that mice exposed to diesel particles showed changes in the so-called macrophages in the intestine. Macrophages are scavenger cells that are part of the innate immune system and have an important defence function. An inflammatory factor secreted by the altered macrophages could be linked to impaired glucose tolerance, a precursor of diabetes.

The findings from this study could provide new pharmacological starting points for the treatment of diabetes-like diseases caused by air pollutants, the researchers wrote. However, further studies were needed, they said.