Aluminum biochemistry

The general review of iron metabolism will also provide a background to the subject of aluminum biochemistry. Aluminum, which is... 

We end this comparative review of iron and aluminum biochemistry with a consideration of the biochemical consequences of iron overload in animals and their relationship to the effects of elevated levels of aluminum. 

Ion recognition is a subject of considerable interest because of its implications in many fields chemistry, biology, medicine (clinical biochemistry), environment, etc. In particular, selective detection of metal cations involved in biological processes (e.g., sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium), in clinical diagnosis (e.g., lithium, potassium, aluminum) or in pollution (e.g., lead, mercury, cadmium) has received much attention. Among the various methods available for detection of ions, and more... 

King SW, Savory J, Wills MR. 1981. The clinical biochemistry of aluminum. CRC Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci 14 1-20. 

Werber MM, Peyser YM, Muhlrad A. 1992. Characterization of stable beryllium fluoride, aluminum fluoride, and vanadate containing myosin subfragment 1-Nucleotide complexes. Biochemistry 31 7190-7197. 

The similarity (89,152) between the chemical properties of AP+ and Fe explains why aluminum can be taken up and distributed in animals it uses the iron distribution pathway. However, aluminum is unlikely to replace iron in many, if any, of its functional sites. Thus, for example, AF+ has not been found in significant amounts in heme. The damaging effects of AP appear to arise because, once mobilized within the body, it can replace Mg + and Ca (83, 89), and also because insoluble aluminum-containing materials are formed. Thus aluminum toxicity is probably not directly related to iron biochemistry. 

Oxidation-reduction reactions are among the most important in chemistry, biochemistry, and industry. Combustion of coal, natural gas, and gasoline for heat and power are redox reactions, as are the recovery of metals such as iron and aluminum from their oxide ores and the production of chemicals such as sulfuric acid from sulfur, air, and water. The human body metabolizes sugars through redox reactions to obtain energy the reaction products are liquid water and gaseous carbon dioxide. 

An understanding of the mechanisms of aluminum hydrolysis and the formation of crystalline species of aluminum hydroxide has been viewed as important in various fields of pure and applied chemistry, biochemistry, and geochemistry. In part, this interest results from the unique properties of certain hydrolysis species of aluminum that appear to be present as polymeric or polynuclear macro-ions. These ions have a strong positive charge and may interact with specific charge sites on surfaces they encounter. The polymeric species also may grow by accretion, and they may persist melastably for months or years under some conditions (1). 

The suggested concept might also explain why aluminum, although widespread in the Earth crust and soil, has not been recruited for biochemical tasks. The sulfides of aluminum, as well as of titanium, are unstable in water. Therefore aluminum does not precipitate at the spot of hydrothermal activity but becomes dissolved in water and apparently comes down later, far away from the hydro-thermal orifices [267]- The absence of aluminum among essential metals, when combined with the importance of sulfur for biochemistry, appears to discount those models of abiogenesis that envision the origin of life in clays (see [268] and references therein) since clays are aluminum silicates that, unlike hydrothermal sulfide precipitates, do not contain sulfur. 

Elkins, K. M., and D. J. Nelson. 2001. Fluorescence and FT-IR spectroscopic studies of Suwannee river fulvic acid complexation with aluminum, terbium and calcium. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 87, no. 1-2 81-96. doi 10.1016/S0162-0134(01)00318-X. 

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