Air Pollution–Related Neurotoxicity Across the Life Span

Abstract

Air pollution is a complex mixture of gases and particulate matter, with adsorbed organic and inorganic contaminants, to which exposure is lifelong. Epidemiological studies increasingly associate air pollution with multiple neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, findings supported by experimental animal models. This breadth of neurotoxicity across these central nervous system diseases and disorders likely reflects shared vulnerability of their inflammatory and oxidative stress–based mechanisms and a corresponding ability to produce brain metal dyshomeo-stasis. Future research to define the responsible contaminants of air pollution underlying this neurotoxicity is critical to understanding mechanisms of these diseases and disorders and protecting public health.