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Environmental pollutants and Alzheimer’s disease

GUO Bao¹, BA Qian^1,2,*

¹Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Public Health, Shanghai 200025, China；²Laboratory Center, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200071, China

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive cognitive impairment. The main hypotheses about the pathogenesis of AD include the hypothesis of β-amyloid protein, the hypothesis of abnormal phosphorylation of Tau protein, and the hypothesis of neuroinflammation. In recent years, environmental pollutants have been considered as an important factor in causing neurological dysfunction. Common environmental pollutants include heavy metals, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, microplastics, and air pollutants, all of which have been proven to have neurotoxicity. In this review, we not only discussed epidemiological and animal experimental studies that link environmental pollution with AD, but also summarized the mechanisms of action of relevant toxins, providing insights for studying the interrelationships between environmental pollutants and AD.

Key words: Alzheimer’s disease; environmental pollutants; β-amyloid protein; Tau protein abnormal phosphorylation; neuroinflammation

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 巴乾　　E-mail: qba@shsmu.edu.cn

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2023.0080

Citing This Article：

GUO Bao, BA Qian. Environmental pollutants and Alzheimer’s disease. Acta Physiol Sin 2023; 75 (6): 740-766 (in Chinese with English abstract).