Sleep and Arousal Hubs and Ferromagnetic Ultrafine Particulate Matter and Nanoparticle Motion Under Electromagnetic Fields: Neurodegeneration, Sleep Disorders, Orexinergic Neurons, and Air Pollution in Young Urbanites

Air pollution plays a key role in sleep disorders and neurodegeneration. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and/or transactive response DNA-binding protein TDP-43 neuropathology have been documented in children and young adult forensic autopsies in the metropolitan area of Mexico City (MMC), along with sleep disorders, cognitive deficits, and MRI brain atrophy in seemingly healthy young populations. Ultrafine particulate matter (UFPM) and industrial nanoparticles (NPs) reach urbanites’ brains through nasal/olfactory, lung, gastrointestinal tract, and placental barriers. We documented Fe UFPM/NPs in neurovascular units, as well as lateral hypothalamic nucleus orexinergic neurons, thalamus, medullary, pontine, and mesencephalic reticular formation, and in pinealocytes. We quantified ferromagnetic materials in sleep and arousal brain hubs and examined their motion behavior to low magnetic fields in MMC brain autopsy samples from nine children and 25 adults with AD, PD, and TDP-43 neuropathology. Saturated isothermal remanent magnetization curves at 50–300 mT were associated with UFPM/NP accumulation in sleep/awake hubs and their motion associated with 30–50 µT (DC magnetic fields) exposure. Brain samples exposed to anthropogenic PM pollution were found to be sensitive to low magnetic fields, with motion behaviors that were potentially linked to the early development and progression of fatal neurodegenerative diseases and sleep disorders. Single-domain magnetic UFPM/NPs in the orexin system, as well as arousal, sleep, and autonomic regions, are key to neurodegeneration, behavioral and cognitive impairment, and sleep disorders. We need to identify children at higher risk and monitor environmental UFPM and NP emissions and exposures to magnetic fields. Ubiquitous ferrimagnetic particles and low magnetic field exposures are a threat to global brain health.