{
  "abstract": "Air pollution (AirP) exposure is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet AirP is chemically heterogeneous, complicating identification of shared pathogenic drivers. We compared acute cortical responses to two chemically distinct but metal-rich AirP sources, diesel exhaust particles (DEP) and World Trade Center (WTC) dust, and contrasted them with woodsmoke (WS), a particulate exposure containing substantially lower metal content. Despite major differences in particle composition and size, DEP and WTC elicited highly convergent transcriptomic responses, sharing more than 1200 differentially expressed genes associated with oxidative stress, interferon signaling, ferroptosis, neuronal remodeling, and amyloid processing. These transcriptional changes were accompanied by disrupted glutathione synthesis, altered ferritin-mediated iron storage and heme metabolism, and selective impairment of lipid raft antioxidant defenses, resulting in a 40% increase in lipid raft 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) with WTC dust with DEP trending similarly, and at least a 65% reduction in phospholipid hydroperoxide detoxification capacity, and 36% increase in the aggregation-prone Aβ42 peptide for both pollution sources. Notably, both exposures produced acute white-matter abnormalities within the corpus callosum despite the absence of bulk brain iron accumulation, indicating that redistribution of bioactive iron rather than total iron burden may be sufficient to promote oxidative injury. In contrast, WS produced a distinct transcriptional profile, lacked coordinated ferroptotic priming, failed to induce lipid peroxidation or Aβ42 accumulation, and showed minimal effects on iron metabolism. Together, these findings identify metal-associated oxidative mechanisms as a convergent pathway linking chemically distinct forms of AirP to ferroptotic vulnerability, amyloidogenic processing, and AD-relevant pathology.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, 1975 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA",
    "Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA; Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA",
    "Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA",
    "Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA",
    "Department of Family Medicine, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, USA",
    "Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, 39762, USA",
    "Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, 1975 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA",
    "Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA",
    "College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87106, USA",
    "Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA; Dornsife College, University of Southern California, 3551 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA",
    "Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA; Corresponding author. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Ave 313D, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA."
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 33,
  "authors": [
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Kristina Shkirkova"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Naomi S. Sta Maria"
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      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Herbert Anson"
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        3
      ],
      "name": "Yashar Aghaei"
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        3
      ],
      "name": "Mohammad Mahdi Badami"
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    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ararat Chakhoyan"
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    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jose A. Godoy-Lugo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Claire Chung"
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    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Salma Durra"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Angela Tang-Tan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Lifu Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Alexandra Demetriou"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Manuel Morales"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sindhu Daggupati"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Isabella Bent"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hyoungjin Park"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Caleb Franklin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Selena Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Giovanni Chahine"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Skyye Dodds-Lewis"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Masako Morishita"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Russell E. Jacobs"
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    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Jean-François Gout"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Wendy J. Mack"
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    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Henry Jay Forman"
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    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Bérénice A. Benayoun"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Marc Vermulst"
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    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Mitchell D. Cohen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Matthew Campen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Constantinos Sioutas"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "William J. Mack"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Caleb E. Finch"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Max A. Thorwald"
    }
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  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fv4fv6hab8vgt.bib",
  "cited_by": 1,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.redox.2026.104390",
  "fulltext_url": "http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213231726003897",
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  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2026.104390",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "lcc",
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      "lcc",
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      "openalex",
      "2307|Air Quality and Health Impacts"
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  "pdf_url": null,
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  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "Elsevier",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fv4fv6hab8vgt.ris",
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      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:43:15Z",
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  "subjects": [
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      "origin": "openalex:2307|Air Quality and Health Impacts",
      "subfield": "pharmacology-toxicology"
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  ],
  "title": "Induction of ferroptotic and amyloidogenic signatures linked to Alzheimer's disease by chemically distinct air pollutants",
  "title_text": "Induction of ferroptotic and amyloidogenic signatures linked to Alzheimer's disease by chemically distinct air pollutants",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T13:43:15Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fv4fv6hab8vgt",
  "venue": "Redox Biology",
  "versions": []
}