White matter pathology in alzheimer’s transgenic mice with chronic exposure to low-level ambient fine particulate matter

Particle and Fibre Toxicology

Boon Lead Tee¹  Ta-Fu Chen²  Ming-Jang Chiu²  Kuan-Hung Cho³  Li-Wei Kuo³  Ching-Chou Hsu⁴  Sheng-Han Lee⁴  Wan-Ru Zheng⁴  Tsun-Jen Cheng⁴  Charles C.-K. Chou⁵ 

[1] Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California at San Francisco;Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital;Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes;Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University;Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica;

关键词: Ambient air pollution;    Alzheimer’s disease;    White matter;    Optic tract;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12989-022-00485-8

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background Air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM), can cause brain damage, cognitive decline, and an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease, especially alzheimer’s disease (AD). Typical pathological findings of amyloid and tau protein accumulation have been detected in the brain after exposure in animal studies. However, these observations were based on high levels of PM exposure, which were far from the WHO guidelines and those present in our environment. In addition, white matter involvement by air pollution has been less reported. Thus, this experiment was designed to simulate the true human world and to discuss the possible white matter pathology caused by air pollution. Results 6 month-old female 3xTg-AD mice were divided into exposure and control groups and housed in the Taipei Air Pollutant Exposure System (TAPES) for 5 months. The mice were subjected to the Morris water maze test after exposure and were then sacrificed with brain dissection for further analyses. The mean mass concentration of PM2.5 during the exposure period was 13.85 μg/m3. After exposure, there was no difference in spatial learning function between the two groups, but there was significant decay of memory in the exposure group. Significantly decreased total brain volume and more neuronal death in the cerebral and entorhinal cortex and demyelination of the corpus callosum were noted by histopathological staining after exposure. However, there was no difference in the accumulation of amyloid or tau on immunohistochemistry staining. For the protein analysis, amyloid was detected at significantly higher levels in the cerebral cortex, with lower expression of myelin basic protein in the white matter. A diffuse tensor image study also revealed insults in multiple white matter tracts, including the optic tract. Conclusions In conclusion, this pilot study showed that even chronic exposure to low PM2.5 concentrations still caused brain damage, such as gross brain atrophy, cortical neuron damage, and multiple white matter tract damage. Typical amyloid cascade pathology did not appear prominently in the vulnerable brain region after exposure. These findings imply that multiple pathogenic pathways induce brain injury by air pollution, and the optic nerve may be another direct invasion route in addition to olfactory nerve.

【 授权许可】

Unknown