title: Correlation of aluminum and manganese concentration in scalp hair samples of patients having neurological disorders.
abstract: Neurodegenerative diseases are thought to be multifactorial, while metals (aluminum and manganese) can be involved as cofactors in abnormalities or suspected of being risk factors for this disorder. The aim of our study was to assess the aluminum (Al) and manganese (Mn) concentrations in scalp hair samples of 397 patients having different types of neurological disorder diseases. For comparative purpose, scalp hair samples of 201 control subjects does not have any neuro-disorders of same age group (30-60 years) and were selected as referents. The Al and Mn in scalp hair samples were assessed by the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry after microwave-assisted acid digestion. The validity of methodology was checked by the certified human hair reference material (NCS ZC81002). The results of this study showed that the mean values of Al and Mn were significantly higher in scalp hair samples of all types of neurological disorder patients as compared to controls (p = 0.01-0.001). The high levels of Al and Mn may play a role in the development of neurological disorders. However, further work is suggested to examine the precise correlation between trace elemental level and the degree of disorders in neurological patients.
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan, mshahzadi71@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mariam Shahzadi
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Arain
authors.forename: Hassan Imran
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Afridi
authors.forename: Tasneem Gul
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Kazi
authors.forename: Farah Naz
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Talpur
authors.forename: Mohammad Balal
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Arain
authors.forename: Atif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kazi
authors.forename: Salma Aslam
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Arain
authors.forename: Jamshed
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000535:Aluminum / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008345:Manganese / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012535:Scalp; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D008345:Manganese; D000535:Aluminum