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Pollution, Particles, and Dementia: A Hypothetical Causative Pathway.
Anthony Seaton1,2, Lang Tran2, Ruoling Chen3
1Department of Environmental Medicine, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB25 2ZP, UK.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
|February 6, 2020
Summary
Air pollution exposure may increase dementia risk by triggering inflammation via biologic microparticles. This mechanism, involving lung inflammation and blood-brain barrier damage, could explain cognitive decline and Alzheimer
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Neuroscience
- Cardiovascular Research
Background:
- Epidemiological studies link air pollution particles to dementia.
- The precise mechanism connecting air pollution to cognitive decline remains unclear.
- Previous hypotheses focused on direct particle translocation to the brain, which is unlikely given low doses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose an alternative mechanism for air pollution's association with dementia.
- To extend a previous hypothesis linking air pollution to cardiac deaths.
- To explain how inflammation, mediated by biologic microparticles, contributes to cognitive impairment.
Main Methods:
- Review and extension of a 1995 hypothetical model.
- Incorporation of recent findings on biologic microparticles and inflammation.
- Hypothesizing a pathway from lung inflammation to neuroinflammation and cognitive decline.
Main Results:
- Particulate air pollution is associated with the release of biologic microparticles into the bloodstream.
- These microparticles can transmit inflammatory signals throughout the body.
- Episodic release of these particles from pollution-induced lung inflammation may cause secondary inflammation at the blood-brain barrier.
Conclusions:
- Proposed mechanism: pollution-induced lung inflammation releases microparticles, leading to blood-brain barrier inflammation and cerebral microbleeds.
- This process can culminate in cognitive impairment and increase Alzheimer's disease risk through amyloid accumulation.
- The proposed inflammatory pathway may also explain links between other inflammatory conditions, environmental factors, and cognitive decline, offering new prevention strategies.
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