Geomatics and epidemiology: Associating oxidative stress and greenness in urban areas

Abstract

Green spaces may benefit human health mainly by mitigating noise and air pollution, promoting physical or social activities and improving mental health. Based on the influence that green space exposure seems to exert on Public Health and using a multidisciplinary approach, we investigated, the association between oxidative stress (OS) and green exposure in children. Overall, 207 subjects (10-13 yrs.) living in Torino (NW-Italy) were involved in this study. Each participant provided a urinary sample, used to quantify a reliable OS biomarker (15-F2t-IsoP), and their residence addresses, used for geocoding. Green exposure was characterised by calculating i) the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) within fixed buffers around each participant's home, using remotely-sensed data; ii) Tree Map accounting for evergreen/broadleaf species;iii) The percentage of green cover (PGC). Significant negative correlation (Pearson's r = -0.758, p < 0.001) between PGC and 15-F2t-IsoP was found. Greater SAVI was associated with lower OS (Pearson's r = -0.717, p < 0.001). Noticeably, evergreens seemed to determine a significant OS reduction compared to broadleaves (slope = -0.12 and -0.02, respectively; Warton-test F = 12.48, p = 0.0011). Finally, a spatial distribution of 15-F2t-IsoP estimates map, overlying with 2011 Census Data on sameaged dwellers of Torino, was generated. Predictive models accounting for green spaces influence on OS can be useful tool derived from geomatic employ in Public Health field. Future developments of such a multidisciplinary approach should be considered in urban planning and policy-makers decisions to better define priority zones to requalify in urban settings.

Residential green space in association with the methylation status in a CpG site within the promoter region of the placental serotonin receptor HTR2A

“…[48,49] Additionally, the presence of green space promotes physical activity [50,51] and improves cognitive restoration [52] , both associated with functional and epigenetic changes of placental tissue [25,[53][54][55][56] However, the underlying mechanisms of these pathways are still being investigated. A proposed way green space could result in alterations in DNA methylation, might be through their capability to reduce oxidative stress [57][58][59][60] , which is known to impact epigenetic mechanisms. [16,61] Moreover, oxidative stress is hypothesized to be associated with neurodevelopment, supporting the oxidative-stress pathway as a link between green space exposure and methylation changes in neural-related components, such as within the serotonergic pathway.…”

Residential green space and mental health-related prescription medication sales: An ecological study in Belgium

“…From an ecosystem service perspective, vegetation may provide shade, reduce heat, and contribute to an inviting setting for physical activity and social interaction. As such urban green space could have long-term human health benefits (Salmond et al 2016;Aerts et al 2018;Bratman et al 2019;Engeman et al 2019;Zhang et al 2021), including lower probabilities for mood disorders (Barwise and Kumar 2020;De Petris et al 2021) and lower counts of mood disorder treatments (Nutsford et al 2013). For instance, Taylor et al (2015) found an inverse association between street tree density and prescriptions for antidepressants in London.…”

Children’s Greenness Exposure and IQ-Associated DNA Methylation: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…Signaling in the central nervous system (CNS) is terminated by the clearance of neurotransmitters from the synapse via high-affinity transporter molecules in the presynaptic membrane [ 73 ]. Accumulated evidence has shown that exposure to greenness has a positive effect on health by reducing oxidative stress [ 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 ]. Additionally, oxidative-stress-induced damage to the brain is likely to negatively affect normal CNS functions [ 78 ].…”

“…Similarly, oxidative stress is widely related to brain development. Recently, greenness exposure was significantly associated with reduced oxidative stress in Italian children [ 75 ]. We suggested that exposure to greenness, which was a pathway to reducing oxidative stress, may be involved in neurodevelopment.…”