2. Academic Validation
  3. Interior decorative volatile organic compounds exposure induces sleep disorders through aberrant branched chain amino acid transaminase 2 mediated glutamatergic signaling resulting from a neuroinflammatory cascade

Interior decorative volatile organic compounds exposure induces sleep disorders through aberrant branched chain amino acid transaminase 2 mediated glutamatergic signaling resulting from a neuroinflammatory cascade

  • Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jul 15:934:173254. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173254.
Jie Zheng 1,  Mengqi Wu 2,  Yaxian Pang 2,  Qingping Liu 2,  Yan Liu 3,  Xiaoting Jin 4,  Jinglong Tang 4,  Lei Bao 5,  Yujie Niu 6,  Yuxin Zheng 7,  Rong Zhang 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China; Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050000, Hebei, PR China.
  • 2 Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China.
  • 3 Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China; School of Public Health, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot 010000, Inner Mongolia, PR China.
  • 4 Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, Shandong, PR China.
  • 5 Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China.
  • 6 Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China; Hebei Key Laboratory of Environment and Human Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China.
  • 7 Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, Shandong, PR China. Electronic address: yxzheng@qdu.edu.cn.
  • 8 Department of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China; Hebei Key Laboratory of Environment and Human Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, Hebei, PR China. Electronic address: rongzhang@hebmu.edu.cn.
PMID: 38761924 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173254
Abstract

Air pollution has been recognized as a contributing factor to sleep disorders (SD), which have been correlated with an elevated susceptibility to a variety of human diseases. Nevertheless, research has not definitively established a connection between SD and interior decorative volatile organic compounds (ID-VOCs), a significant indoor air pollutant. In this study, we employed a mouse model exposed to ID-VOCs to explore the impacts of ID-VOCs exposure on sleep patterns and the potential underlying mechanism. Of the 23 key compositions of ID-VOCs identified, aromatic hydrocarbons were found to be the most prevalent. Exposure to ID-VOCs in mice resulted in SD, characterized by prolonged wake fullness and decreased sleep during the LIGHT period. ID-VOCs exposure triggered neuroinflammatory responses in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), with microglia activation leading to the overproduction of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1α (IL-1α), and complement component 1q (C1q), ultimately inducing A1 astrocytes. Consequently, the upregulation of branched chain amino acid transaminase 2 (BCAT2) in A1 astrocytes resulted in elevated extracellular glutamate and disruption of the wake-sleep transition mechanism, which might be the toxicological mechanism of SD caused by ID-VOCs.

Keywords

Branched chain amino acid transaminase 2 (BCAT2); Glutamate; Interior decorative volatile organic compounds (ID-VOCs); Neuroinflammation; Sleep disorders (SD).

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