The article doesn't talk about mechanisms, but researchers have been looking at the effects of air pollution on the brain for a while, so there are at least som

The article doesn't talk about mechanisms, but researchers have been looking at the effects of air pollution on the brain for a while, so there are at least some hints in the literature. My favorite specific result to cite in this general direction, which seems potentially relevant here, is that there is evidence that acute exposure to some forms of air pollution blunts or even eliminates the increase in serum brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF; basically a kind of growth hormone for the brain) otherwise caused by exercise [1]. Depending on what's mediating that effect, it could be that a whole complex of CNS regulation/recovery/maintenance mechanisms is altered by various forms of air pollution. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21708224 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21708224