The University of Rhode Island has recently published a study highlighting how genetics and environmental risk factors directly influence Alzheimer’s disease. Researcher Jaime Ross has identified the APOE4 and APOE3 genes in her experiments and observed that the presence of microplastics, an increasingly common component of plastic pollution that also affects the brain, is associated with signs of inflammation. Read on to learn more.
Consuming microplastics could trigger cognitive decline
In the case you’re already genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s disease, consuming microplastics might trigger cognitive decline, according to a recent study in mice from investigators at the University of Rhode Island.
The investigators requested to see how microplastics might interact with genetic Alzheimer’s endanger to make brain dysfunction more probably – a union of both the genes we’re born with and the environment we live in.
Two groups of mice were used, one with the APOE4 gene differing that grows Alzheimer’s risk, and one with the APOE3 variant that doesn’t affect risk. In each group, some of the mice had microplastics extra to their drinking water, and some didn’t.
“There are modifiable factors we’re studying related to Alzheimer’s – diet, exercise, vitamins, and especially environmental toxins like microplastics,” says neuroscientist Jaime Ross.
“If you carry the APOE4, and you happen to consume a lot of microplastics, will this contribute to Alzheimer’s disease?”
What the researches found out
Using examns designed to measure cognition, the investigators found that mice with APOE4 that consumed microplastics did start showing signs of cognitive decline. In addition, mice with the APOE3 gene, and APOE4 mice that hadn’t been in full view to microplastics, act properly normally, suggesting that the combination of genetic risk and microplastics was driving the modifications in the animals.
Intriguingly, the profesionals noted sex differences in affected mice. The male APOE4 mice given microplastics presented signs of cognitive decrease through apathetic behavior, on the other hand, the female APOE4 mice given microplastics seemed to have impaired memories.
This actually go together to what we see in humans with Alzheimer’s: men with the disease normally show signs of apathy, while women usally experience issues with memory. That makes the microplastics link worth investigating more deeply.
“When you expose animals that are carrying the largest known risk factor in humans for developing Alzheimer’s disease to micro and nanoplastics, lo and behold, their behavior changes in a sex-dependent manner similar to the sex-dependent differences we see with Alzheimer’s patients,” says Ross.
Signs of inflammation in the APOE4 microplastics mice
The investigators also noticed that several signs of inflammation in the APOE4 microplastics mice matched what would be awaited from Alzheimer’s. The mice didn’t carried out the disease itself, but did present some changes related to it.
At the time a single APOE4 gene does raise the risk of Alzheimer’s in people quite considerably, it’s still not a guarantee of the disease developing – many people with this genetic risk don’t get Alzheimer’s. That points to other factors being implicated too, and investigators are making progress in understanding what those reasons are.
These study results: “exposure to plastic pollution could be one of these additional factors”
Based on these study results, it seems as though exposure to plastic pollution could be one of these additional factors. We know microplastics can potentially get into the brain, but it’s still not clear exactly how harmful this exposure could be.
As is usual the case with Alzheimer’s, it’s tricky to work out which brain alterations might be happening as a result of the disease, and which might be driving it in the first place. At the same time this study only involved mice, it could be significant that Alzheimer’s-like changes were seen in a short period of time.
“It’s interesting that what we’re seeing in mice is similar to what we’re seeing in the real world,” says Ross.
“We want to encourage further research into the scourge of micro and nanoplastics.”
