Study reveals how air pollution can trigger harmful changes in the brain that lead to neurodegeneration

"Air pollution makes people sick and can be deadly in many ways. It has been shown to drive cardiovascular diseases, respiratory infections, and cancers such as lung cancer. It is responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide every year. There is no doubt about its harmful potential, but science is increasingly trying to pinpoint the exact links between pollution and different illnesses."

"Specifically, researchers from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, who authored the study, focused on Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disorder marked by the abnormal accumulation in the brain of a protein called alpha-synuclein. These harmful deposits (Lewy bodies), which are distinctive signs of this type of dementia and also of Parkinson's disease, are responsible for motor problems and memory loss."

"The study provides scientific support for the potential of air pollutants to fuel disease and suggests that alpha-synuclein is a crucial mediator linking environmental damage to brain damage. Xiaobo Mao, a researcher in the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University and author of the study, explains that his intention was to dig deeper into a major knowledge gap a black box that made it impossible to understand exactly how pollution damages the brain."

Air pollution causes cardiovascular disease, respiratory infections, and cancers and accounts for 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide each year. Long-term exposure to air pollution increases the risk of dementia, notably Lewy body dementia, which features abnormal alpha-synuclein protein deposits in the brain. Lewy bodies cause motor dysfunction and memory loss and share pathology with Parkinson's disease. Evidence indicates alpha-synuclein can mediate pollution-driven brain injury, providing biological plausibility for environmental contributions to neurodegeneration. Clarifying the molecular mechanisms linking pollutants to alpha-synuclein aggregation could explain how prolonged pollution exposure drives the onset and progression of neurodegenerative disorders.

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