98 Inhalation Exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution Accelerates Alzheimer’s Disease-like Pathology in a Murine Model

Abstract

Abstract A growing number of epidemiological studies has linked exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) to neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. In a previous study, we showed that subchronic inhalation exposure to diesel engine exhaust, as a model of TRAP, aggravates amyloid-β plaque formation and motor function impairment in the 5xFAD transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). To further strengthen the epidemiological association between TRAP and AD we exposed 5xFAD and wildtype littermate mice for 5 h/day, 5 days/week during 2 or 4 consecutive weeks at a representative urban traffic-dominated location to: (I) concentrated ambient particles, (II) particle filtered ambient air or (III) clean air (control). Our study revealed that repeated inhalation exposure to TRAP accelerates plaque formation in the 5xFAD mice. Data also indicated that the gaseous fraction of the air pollutant mixture probably plays only a minor role in this effect. The major outcome of this study substantiates the role of air pollution in AD and suggests that long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution particles is a risk factor for this debilitating disease. Acknowledgements: The work leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 814978 (TUBE) and a cross-border grant awarded by the Alzheimer Forschung Initiative (AFI, Germany) and Alzheimer Nederland.