Air Pollution Linked to Advancement of Lewy Body Dementia, New Research Shows
Recent research published in Science provides compelling evidence linking air pollution, specifically fine particulate matter (PM2.5), to the development of Lewy body dementia (LBD). The study, conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins, demonstrates a causal relationship between PM2.5 exposure and the formation of toxic protein clumps characteristic of the disease.
The research team exposed mice to PM2.5 pollution every other day for ten months. Normal mice exhibited nerve cell death, brain shrinkage, and cognitive decline. However, mice genetically modified to not produce alpha-synuclein – the protein that forms Lewy bodies – were largely unaffected. This finding strongly suggests that air pollution triggers the formation of thes harmful clumps.
Further examination revealed that PM2.5 pollution drove the creation of aggressive, resilient, and toxic clumps of alpha-synuclein that closely resembled Lewy bodies found in human brains. Alpha-synuclein is normally crucial for healthy brain function, but can misfold and become harmful.
“Putting the two together,to me,indicates that there’s a pretty strong association with air pollution causing Lewy body dementia. We think it’s a very important driving factor for dementia,” stated Ted Dawson, a senior author on the study and a professor in neurodegenerative diseases at Johns Hopkins. “There needs to be a concerted effort to keep our air clean.”
This research builds upon previous studies that have identified PM2.5 particles within human brains, linking them to Alzheimer’s disease and reductions in intelligence. Researchers emphasize the significance of identifying air pollution as a “modifiable risk factor” for LBD.
“Our findings have profound implications for prevention as they identify air pollution as a modifiable risk factor for Lewy body dementia,” explained researcher Mao to The guardian. “By lowering our collective exposure to air pollution, we can potentially reduce the risk of developing these devastating neurodegenerative conditions on a population-wide scale.”
Ongoing research,such as the Rapid project launched in 2024 by University College London and the Francis Crick Institute,is further investigating the impact of air pollution on brain health.
Prof Charles Swanton, a co-leader of the Rapid project and deputy clinical director at the Crick, called the Johns Hopkins study “an critically important and compelling study that deepens our understanding of how air pollution can drive neurodegenerative disease.” He added that the work ”provides a mechanistic bridge between environmental exposure and disease pathology” and “underscores the urgent need to understand and mitigate the impact of air pollution on dementia and disease risk more broadly, given its enormous and growing public health burden.”
