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Updated: Dec 14, 2025
Abbiategrasso Brain Bank Protocol for Collecting, Processing and Characterizing Aging Brains
Published on: June 3, 2020
Erythrocyte omega-3 index, ambient fine particle exposure, and brain aging
Cheng Chen1, Pengcheng Xun2, Joel D Kaufman2
1From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Epidemiology (C.C., K.H.), Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (P.X.), School of Public Health-Bloomington, Indiana University; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (J.D.K.), Department of Medicine, and Department of Epidemiology (J.D.K.), School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle; Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy (K.M.H.) and Department of Biostatistics and Data Science (M.A.E.), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC; Department of Epidemiology (E.A.W.) and Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (M.L.S., W.V.), Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Department of Medicine (E.A.W.), School of Medicine, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; Department of Human Sciences (T.O.), Human Nutrition Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus; Department of Internal Medicine (W.S.H.), Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota; OmegaQuant Analytics LLC (W.S.H.), Sioux Falls, SD; and Department of Neurology (X.W., H.C.C., J.-C.C.) and Department of Preventive Medicine (J.-C.C.), Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. jcchen@usc.edu kk3399@cumc.columbia.edu.
Objective:
To examine whether long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCn3PUFA) levels modify the potential neurotoxic effects of particle matter with diameters <2.5 µm (PM2.5) exposure on normal-appearing brain volumes among dementia-free elderly women.
Methods:
A total of 1,315 women (age 65-80 years) free of dementia were enrolled in an observational study between 1996 and 1999 and underwent structural brain MRI in 2005 to 2006. According to prospectively collected and geocoded participant addresses, we used a spatiotemporal model to estimate the 3-year average PM2.5 exposure before the MRI. We examined the joint associations of baseline LCn3PUFAs in red blood cells (RBCs) and PM2.5 exposure with brain volumes in generalized linear models.
Results:
After adjustment for potential confounders, participants with higher levels of RBC LCn3PUFA had significantly greater volumes of white matter and hippocampus. For each interquartile increment (2.02%) in omega-3 index, the average volume was 5.03 cm3 (p < 0.01) greater in the white matter and 0.08 cm3 (p = 0.03) greater in the hippocampus. The associations with RBC docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid levels were similar. Higher LCn3PUFA attenuated the inverse associations between PM2.5 exposure and white matter volumes in the total brain and multimodal association areas (frontal, parietal, and temporal; all p for interaction <0.05), while the associations with other brain regions were not modified. Consistent results were found for dietary intakes of LCn3PUFAs and nonfried fish.
Conclusions:
Findings from this prospective cohort study among elderly women suggest that the benefits of LCn3PUFAs on brain aging may include the protection against potential adverse effects of air pollution on white matter volumes.
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