From particulates to pathways: environmental exposures and their impact on Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Category: Environmental Health, Neuroscience, Review Article Tags: Alzheimer's disease, environmental pollution, neurodegeneration, electromagnetic fields, heavy metals, oxidative stress, amyloid-beta DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2025.149880 URL: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Overview Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of cognitive decline and mortality, with its neurobiological mechanisms and etiology still not fully understood. Emerging evidence highlights the significant role of environmental pollutants in AD onset and progression. This review examines the impact of environmental compartments—air, water, soil, and pollutants—on AD pathology. - Prolonged exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5), heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic), and engineered nanomaterials (silver, iron oxide, silica) increases AD risk. - Other aggravating factors include obesity, smoking, infections, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and critically, electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which may exacerbate AD. - These exposures potentially drive key pathological features such as amyloid-beta plaque deposition and tau protein aggregation. Findings By analyzing recent studies, this review highlights the intersection between environmental exposure and AD progression, emphasizing how such factors can accelerate the disease. For instance: - EMF exposure can result in the dysregulation of calcium homeostasis, oxidative stress, and inflammation, all of which are linked to neuronal damage and cognitive impairment in AD. - Animal and human studies show that EMF exposure accelerates the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques and leads to neurodegenerative changes in the brain, reinforcing the link between EMFs and AD risk. - Combined environmental exposures, such as heavy metals and smoking, exhibit synergistic effects that significantly amplify neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and risk of AD. Conclusion This review provides practical guidelines to mitigate these environmental risks, with the goal of reducing AD incidence. The multifactorial role of pollutants, particularly EMFs, in AD highlights the urgency for further research and public health interventions. These collective findings advance our understanding of AD's environmental contributions and emphasize the need for comprehensive risk reduction strategies.

AI evidence extraction

Main findings

This review summarizes evidence that multiple environmental exposures, including electromagnetic fields (EMFs), may exacerbate Alzheimer's disease pathology and risk. It reports that EMF exposure is associated in cited animal and human studies with mechanisms such as calcium homeostasis dysregulation, oxidative stress, and inflammation, and with accelerated amyloid-beta plaque accumulation and neurodegenerative brain changes.

Outcomes measured

• Alzheimer's disease risk
• Alzheimer's disease onset and progression
• Amyloid-beta plaque deposition/accumulation
• Tau protein aggregation
• Calcium homeostasis dysregulation
• Oxidative stress
• Inflammation/neuroinflammation
• Neuronal damage/neurodegenerative changes
• Cognitive impairment

Limitations

• Narrative review; methods for study selection and synthesis are not described in the abstract.
• EMF exposure characteristics (frequency, source, intensity/SAR, duration) are not specified in the abstract.
• Specific human populations, study designs, and effect sizes are not provided in the abstract.
• Causality cannot be established from the abstract summary of heterogeneous evidence.

{
    "study_type": "review",
    "exposure": {
        "band": null,
        "source": null,
        "frequency_mhz": null,
        "sar_wkg": null,
        "duration": "prolonged exposure (not further specified)"
    },
    "population": null,
    "sample_size": null,
    "outcomes": [
        "Alzheimer's disease risk",
        "Alzheimer's disease onset and progression",
        "Amyloid-beta plaque deposition/accumulation",
        "Tau protein aggregation",
        "Calcium homeostasis dysregulation",
        "Oxidative stress",
        "Inflammation/neuroinflammation",
        "Neuronal damage/neurodegenerative changes",
        "Cognitive impairment"
    ],
    "main_findings": "This review summarizes evidence that multiple environmental exposures, including electromagnetic fields (EMFs), may exacerbate Alzheimer's disease pathology and risk. It reports that EMF exposure is associated in cited animal and human studies with mechanisms such as calcium homeostasis dysregulation, oxidative stress, and inflammation, and with accelerated amyloid-beta plaque accumulation and neurodegenerative brain changes.",
    "effect_direction": "harm",
    "limitations": [
        "Narrative review; methods for study selection and synthesis are not described in the abstract.",
        "EMF exposure characteristics (frequency, source, intensity/SAR, duration) are not specified in the abstract.",
        "Specific human populations, study designs, and effect sizes are not provided in the abstract.",
        "Causality cannot be established from the abstract summary of heterogeneous evidence."
    ],
    "evidence_strength": "insufficient",
    "confidence": 0.66000000000000003108624468950438313186168670654296875,
    "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
    "keywords": [
        "Alzheimer's disease",
        "environmental pollution",
        "neurodegeneration",
        "electromagnetic fields",
        "heavy metals",
        "oxidative stress",
        "amyloid-beta",
        "tau",
        "inflammation",
        "calcium homeostasis"
    ],
    "suggested_hubs": []
}

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