Aluminium in Alzheimer’s disease

Campbell A. The potential role of aluminium in Alzheimer s disease. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2002 17(Suppl 2) 17-20. 

Broe GA, Henderson AS, Creasey H, et al A case-control study of Alzheimer s disease in Australia. Neurology 40 1698-1707,1990 Chafi AH, Hauw J-J, Rancurel G, et al Absence of aluminium in Alzheimer s disease brain tissue electron microprobe and ion microprobe studies. Neurosci Lett 123 61-64, 1991... 

Markesberry, W.R., Ehmann, W.D., Hossain, T.I.M., Alaudin, M. and Goodin, D.T. (1981) Instrumental neutron activation analysis of brain aluminium in Alzheimer s disease and aging. Ann. Neurol. 10 511-516. 

There is no evidence to support a primary causative role for aluminium in Alzheimer s disease and aluminium does not induce Alzheimer s disease pathology in vivo in any species, including humans [12]. 

Landsberg, J.P., McDonald, B. and Watt, F. (1992). Absence of aluminium in neuritic plaque cores in Alzheimer s disease. Nature 360, 65-68. 

Domingo, J.L. (2006) Aluminium and other metals in Alzheimer s disease a review of potential therapy with chelating agents. J. Alzheimer Dis., 10, 331-341. 

House E, CoUingwood J, Khan A, Korchazkina O, Berthon G, Exley C (2004) Aluminium, iron, zinc and copper influence the in vitro formation of amyloid fibrils of Abeta42 in a manner which may have consequences for metal chelation therapy in Alzheimer s disease. J Alzheimers Dis 6 291-301... 

Aluminium is the third most abundant element on earth but it is known to have toxic effects that cause brain disease, bone disease, and anaemia. There is concern especially in relation to its possible role in Alzheimer s disease. The changes observed in animals exposed to aluminium are similar to those observed in patients with Alzheimer s disease. Aluminium has been found in some areas of the brain of victims of Alzheimer s at levels not too dissimilar from that in the brains of the animals exposed. Some of the findings and their interpretation are controversial. Unfortunately, the amounts of aluminium absorbed by the residents of Camelford are... 

Flaten TP. Aluminium as a risk factor in Alzheimer s disease, with emphasis on drinking water. Brain Res Bull 2001 55(2) 187-96. 

Crapper DR, Krishnan B, Dalton AJ Brain aluminium distribution in Alzheimer s disease and experimental neurofibrillary degeneration. Science 180 511-513,1973 Crapper DR, Krishnan SS, Quittkat S Aluminium, neurofibrillary degeneration and Alzheimer s disease. Brain 99 67-80,1976... 

Trace Elements in Medicine 4 178-178,1987 Emard JF, Andre P, Thouez J-P, et al Geographical distribution of Alzheimer s disease cases at birth and the geochemical profile of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean/Quebec, Canada (image project). Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 72 251-264, 1994 Flaten TP Aluminium as a risk factor in Alzheimer s disease, with emphasis on drinking water. Brain Res Bull 55 187-196, 2001... 

Moore PB, Day JP, Taylor GA, et al Absorption of aluminium-26 in Alzheimer s disease, measured using accelerator mass spectrometry. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 11 66-69, 2000... 

Michel P, Commenges D, Dartigues JF, et al Study of the relationship between aluminium concentration in drinking water and risk of Alzheimer s disease, in Alzheimer s Disease Basic Mechanisms, Diagnosis and Therapeutic Strategies. Edited by Iqbal K, McLachlan DRC, Winblad B, et al. New York, Wiley-Interscience, 1991, pp 387-391... 

Solomon B, Koppel R, Jossiphov J Immunostaining of calmodulin and aluminium in Alzheimer s disese-affected brains. Brain Res Bull 55 253-256, 2001 Stem AJ, Perl DP, Munoz-Garcia D, et al Investigation of silicon and aluminum content in isolated senile plaque cores by laser microprobe mass analysis (LAMMA) (abstract). J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 45 361,1986 Trapp GA, Miner GD, Zimmerman RL, et al Aluminum levels in brain in Alzheimer s disease. Biol Psychiatry 13 709-718, 1978... 

Yokel RA (2001) Aluminum toxicokinetics at the blood-brain barrier. In EXLEY C, ed. Aluminium and Alzheimer s Disease, pp. 233-260. Elsevier, New York. 

Crapper, D.R., Quittkat, S., Krishnan, S.S., Dalton, A.J. and De Boni, U. (1980) Intranuclear aluminium content in Alzheimer s disease, dialysis encephalopathy and experimental aluminium encephalopathy. Acta Neuropathol. 50 19-24. 

The older hypothesis in which aluminium was said to be involved in the progress of Alzheimer s disease has generated much controversy [37]. It nevertheless inspired the development of early models for Alzheimer s disease. Intracerebral administration of aluminium in rabbits brings about neurofibrillary degeneration in several brain regions and a decrease of choline acetyl transferase in the striatum, but not in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus where the decrease mostly occurs in Alzheimer s disease [38], no amyloid plaques are formed and few changes in other neurotransmitter systems and behaviour have been reported [39]. 

Birchall, J.D. and Chappell, J.S. (1988). The chemistry of aluminium and silicon in relation to Alzheimer s disease. Clin. Chem. 34, 265-267. 

Aluminium is the most abundant element of the lithosphere. Although a large number of persons are exposed world-wide to Al, the incidence of pulmonary effects is low (Schaller et al. 1994). In the 1970 s the effect of Al appearing in dialysis solutions on the central nervous system has become weU known. Increased Al could also be detected in several brain regions of patients with Alzheimer s disease. For the determination in biological materials the most widely used method is GF-AAS. 

Aluminium, while extremely abundant in the earth s crust, is not used by living organisms it is a notorious neurotoxin, but its involvement as a cause of Alzheimer s disease... 

Martyn CN, Osmond C, Edwardson JA, et al Geographical relationship between Alzheimer s disease and aluminium in drinking water. Lancet 1 59-62, 1989... 

Only a small amount of aluminum is absorbed, and is usually readily eliminated in the urine, unless renal function is impaired. Then absorbed Ap+ can contribute to osteoporosis, encephalopathy, and proximal myopathy. There is some concern that excess of aluminium may contribute to the development of Alzheimer s disease and other neurodegen-erative disorders. 

Finally, there is an increasing need to evaluate the importance of environmental toxins in the pathology of Alzheimer s disease. There has been much interest lately in the role of aluminium as a causative factor, while the studies of dementia associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome have focused attention on the effects of slow viruses in causing brain cell death. 

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