{"doi":"10.1101/2022.06.03.22275885","title":"Hippocampal microstructural and neurobehavioral differences in welders are related to higher R2* in the red nucleus","abstract":"Abstract Introduction Metal exposure has been associated with higher risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We examined the potential link between welding-related metal co-exposure (e.g., Fe, Mn, Pb) and AD-related structural and neurobehavioral metrics. Methods Subjects with (welders; n=42) or without (controls; n=31) a history of welding were examined. Metal exposure was estimated by exposure questionnaires and whole blood metal levels. Brain metal accumulations were estimated by MRI R1 (Mn) and R2* (Fe) in the caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, red nucleus (RN), and hippocampus. AD-related structural differences were assessed by volume and diffusion tensor imaging metrics in the hippocampus, and neurobehavioral aspects by learning/memory task scores. Results Compared to controls, welders displayed higher blood metal levels (p’s <0.004) and R2* values in the caudate and RN (p’s<0.024). Caudate R2* values were associated with blood Fe (p=0.043), whereas RN R2* values were correlated with blood Pb (p=0.003). Welders had higher hippocampal mean diffusivity (MD; p=0.011) and lower Story Recall scores (p=0.049), but no difference in volume or domain-wise learning/memory performance (p’s>0.117). Group differences in hippocampal MD and Story Recall scores were greater with higher RN R2* values (p’s<0.016). Moreover, RN R2* values reflected an indirect link between blood Pb and hippocampal MD (p=0.036) across both groups. Discussion Welders had hippocampal structural and learning/memory performance differences similar to those in AD-at-risk populations. These AD-like differences in welders may, in part, be linked to Pb exposure reflected by higher RN R2* levels at the brain level.","journal":"medRxiv","year":2022,"id":309016,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9408,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1003765,"name":"Juhee Kim","orcid":"0009-0002-1447-2124","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":962447,"name":"Janina Manzieri Prado‐Rico","orcid":"0000-0002-6776-7543","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":268530,"name":"Guangwei Du","orcid":"0000-0002-8267-0301","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":268526,"name":"Mechelle M. Lewis","orcid":"0000-0002-1375-689X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":507075,"name":"Lan Kong","orcid":"0000-0001-6098-9445","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":275266,"name":"Jeff D. Yanosky","orcid":"0000-0002-6196-655X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1003766,"name":"Byoung-Gwon Kim","orcid":"0000-0002-1762-6320","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1003767,"name":"Young‐Seoub Hong","orcid":"0000-0002-9037-3761","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":367691,"name":"Richard B. Mailman","orcid":"0000-0003-1353-2738","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":268532,"name":"Xuemei Huang","orcid":"0000-0003-3583-5502","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":271900,"name":"Eun Young Lee","orcid":"0000-0002-4513-9888","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":64,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:33:07.132912Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}