Journal Article Epublish 1 citation
PubMed: 40735335 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100544
Outdoor Air Pollution Is Related to Amygdala Subregion Volume and Apportionment in Early Adolescence.
Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci 5(5):100544
Authors: Jessica Morrel, L Nate Overholtzer, Kirthana Sukumaran, Devyn L Cotter, Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez, J Michael Tyszka, Joel Schwartz, Daniel A Hackman, Jiu-Chiuan Chen, Megan M Herting
Affiliations
- Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
- USC-Caltech MD-PhD Program, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
- Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California.
- Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
- USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
- Department of Neurology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
Abstract
Background
Outdoor air pollution exposure is associated with structural and functional brain differences and an increased risk for psychopathology. Although the neural mechanisms remain unclear, air pollutants may impact mental health by altering brain regions implicated in psychopathology, such as the amygdala. Here, we examined the association between ambient air pollution exposure and amygdala subregion volumes in 9- to 10-year-olds.
Methods
Cross-sectional data from 4473 (55.4% male) Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study participants were leveraged. Air pollution exposure was estimated based on each participant's primary residential address. Using the CIT168 atlas, we quantified total amygdala and 9 subregion volumes from T1- and T2-weighted images. We investigated associations between criteria pollutants (i.e., fine particulate matter [PM 2.5], nitrogen dioxide, and ground-level ozone), 15 PM 2.5 components, and amygdala subregion volumes and relative volume fractions using both single-pollutant linear mixed-effects regression and partial least squares correlation (PLSC) co-exposure modeling approaches.
Results
No significant associations were detected using single-pollutant models. Rather, in examining mixtures of exposures with PLSC, 1 latent dimension (52% variance explained) captured a positive association between calcium and several basolateral subregions. Latent dimensions were also identified for amygdala relative volume fractions (ranging from 30% to 82% variance explained), with PM 2.5 and component co-exposure being associated with increases in lateral, but decreases in medial and central, relative volume fractions.
Conclusions
PM 2.5 and its components are associated with distinct amygdala differences, potentially playing a role in risk for adolescent mental health problems.
MeSH
Psychopathology, Environmental Pollutants, Air Pollution, Brain, Air, Amygdala, Environmental Pollution, Mental Health