AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
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Chronic Exposure to Real-time Traffic Related Air Pollution Increases Neuroinflammation and Exacerbates Plaque Burden in TgF344-AD Rats
Kelley Patten, Anthony Valenzuela, Ameer Taha, Keith Bein, ANTHONY S. WEXLER, Pamela Lein, University of California, Davis
Abstract Number: 7 Working Group: From Aerosol Dosimetry and Toxicology to Health
Abstract Introduction. Epidemiological studies have linked traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, this association has yet to be confirmed in a preclinical model. Moreover, the mechanism(s) by which TRAP influences AD are unclear.
Methods. To address these issues, we exposed male and female TgF344-AD rats and congenic controls to real-time TRAP or filtered air (FA) over the course of 15 months, using a mobile exposure facility that samples air from a highway tunnel in the Bay Area of California. Rats were exposed to TRAP or FA from postnatal day 28 to 15 months of age. At 3, 6, 10, and 15 months of age, brain samples were collected, and analyzed for plaque burden, bioactive lipids, microgliosis, astrogliosis, and cytokine protein levels.
Conclusions. Chronic TRAP exposure increased plaque burden in AD transgenic rats at 6 months. In addition, we found that TRAP exposure increased pro-inflammatory cytokines as early as 3 months of age, and modulated levels of both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines at later time points. Finally, both microgliosis and astrogliosis were increased by TRAP exposure. These data suggest that TRAP may exacerbate AD-relevant phenotypes, and that these results may be mediated through neuroinflammation.
Supported by the NIEHS (grants R21 ES025570, P30 ES023513 and T32 ES007059) and NIA (grant P30AG010129).