Aluminum-Induced Neurotoxicity via Epigenetic Crosstalk: Research Progress

Aluminum (Al), as a ubiquitous environmental pollutant, has been implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of various neurodegenerative diseases due to its neurotoxic properties. Recent studies indicate that aluminum exposure may induce aberrant epigenetic modifications, thereby disrupting gene expression patterns and cellular functions, ultimately leading to neuronal damage. This review focuses on examining the cross-hierarchical regulatory mechanisms of aluminum exposure on DNA methylation, histone modifications, noncoding RNAs, and RNA modifications. We point out an issue in current research-the isolated analysis of individual epigenetic modifications often neglects their network-based cascade effects. Future investigations should focus on integrating multi-omics approaches with dynamic modeling to elucidate the hierarchical transmission mechanisms underlying epigenetic crosstalk.