Environmental Pollutants and Neurological Disorders: Clinical and Mechanistic Study

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Study Type: Observational
SUMMARY

Environmental pollutants have emerged as a major global health concern, with growing evidence linking exposure to both traditional contaminants such as heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic) and novel pollutants-including micro- and nanoplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), antibiotics, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals-to adverse neurological outcomes. These pollutants can cross or disrupt the blood-brain barrier, accumulate in neural tissue, and trigger oxidative stress, inflammation, epigenetic modifications, and metabolic reprogramming. Brain tumours and cerebrovascular diseases represent two major categories of neurosurgical disorders with high morbidity and mortality. However, their interaction with environmental pollutant exposure remains poorly understood. Recent studies suggest that pollutant-induced molecular alterations, such as aberrant DNA methylation, lipid metabolism disruption, and neurovascular endothelial dysfunction, may contribute to tumour initiation, malignant progression, aneurysm formation, and stroke occurrence. Given the increasing human exposure to these pollutants and the lack of large-scale clinical data, it is urgent to establish a systematic investigation in neurosurgical patients. This study aims to profile pollutant exposure (heavy metals, PFAS, microplastics, and other novel contaminants) using multi-biospecimen analysis (blood, urine, hair, tumour and peri-tumour tissues), and to explore their mechanistic links to the pathogenesis of brain tumours and cerebrovascular diseases. The findings are expected to provide new evidence for understanding environment-brain interactions and to identify potential biomarkers for disease risk stratification and prevention.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• 18 years of age or older;

• Able to give informed consent to participate in the research.

Locations
Other Locations
China
Beijing Tiantan Hospital
RECRUITING
Beijing
Contact Information
Primary
Runting Li, MD
tt18080lrt@163.com
+86 15753166690
Time Frame
Start Date: 2025-08-01
Estimated Completion Date: 2027-08-01
Participants
Target number of participants: 500
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Collaborators: National Human Brain Bank for Development and Function, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, Peking Union Medical College, Nanjing University, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences
Leads: Beijing Tiantan Hospital

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov