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Aluminum, Alzheimer’s Disease and the Geospatial Occurrence of Similar Disorders

Department of Pathology, Neuropathology Division, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, New York, 10029, U.S.A., e-mail: daniel.perl@mssm.edu

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

	INTRODUCTION

 
Over the years, aluminum has been associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases, however, it is the association of the metal with Alzheimer’s disease that has attracted the greatest attention and discussion in both the scientific literature and the lay press. In this chapter, we will discuss the background for this association and its implications for an understanding of its role in the etiopathogeneisis of age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Aluminum, although the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust, comprising 8% of the geologic mantle, is unique among the elements of abundance in that it is not considered to be essential for life. Most of the earth’s aluminum exists in forms that are not soluble at physiologic pH and are therefore relatively unavailable to mammalian species (Martin 1986). Aluminum-containing compounds are widely used in a large number of commercial products, are constituents of many food additives and medications and are extensively employed as a defloculant in the purification of water delivered to a large number of cities throughout the world. However, it should be understood that most ingested aluminum remains unabsorbed by the body and there are little in the way of aluminum stores in the tissues of mammalian species. This is particularly true of the brain where normal concentrations of the element are around 1 part per million. Despite this, in a number of neurodegenerative disorders, focal accumulations of aluminum have been identified using a number of different analytic techniques. When localized, these aluminum deposits have been identified within the specific pathologic lesions by which these diseases are characterized, especially neurofibrillary tangles. Such lesions consist of intraneuronal protein aggregates which once formed cannot be properly broken down by the nerve cells and eventually cause their destruction. Aluminum, with its high charge and small ionic radius, would be expected . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. Sahai, M. A. A. Schoonen, and H. C. W. Skinner The Emergent Field of Medical Mineralogy and Geochemistry Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, January 1, 2006; 64(1): 1 - 4. [Full Text] [PDF]