Aluminium in brain tissue in familial Alzheimer's disease.
The genetic predispositions which describe a diagnosis of familial Alzheimer's disease can be considered as cornerstones of the amyloid cascade hypothesis. Essentially they place the expression and metabolism of the amyloid precursor protein as the main tenet of disease aetiology. However, we do not know the cause of Alzheimer's disease and environmental factors may yet be shown to contribute towards its onset and progression. One such environmental factor is human exposure to aluminium and aluminium has been shown to be present in brain tissue in sporadic Alzheimer's disease. We have made the first ever measurements of aluminium in brain tissue from 12 donors diagnosed with familial Alzheimer's disease. The concentrations of aluminium were extremely high, for example, there were values in excess of 10μg/g tissue dry wt. in 5 of the 12 individuals. Overall, the concentrations were higher than all previous measurements of brain aluminium except cases of known aluminium-induced encephalopathy. We have supported our quantitative analyses using a novel method of aluminium-selective fluorescence microscopy to visualise aluminium in all lobes of every brain investigated. The unique quantitative data and the stunning images of aluminium in familial Alzheimer's disease brain tissue raise the spectre of aluminium's role in this devastating disease.
The Birchall Centre, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, United Kingdom.
Ambreen
A
Mirza
Department Of Clinical Neuropathology, King's College Hospital, London, SE5 9RS, United Kingdom; MRC London Neurodegenerative Diseases Brain Bank, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
Andrew
A
King
MRC London Neurodegenerative Diseases Brain Bank, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
Claire
C
Troakes
The Birchall Centre, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, United Kingdom. Electronic address: c.exley@keele.ac.uk.
Christopher
C
Exley
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000535:Aluminum / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D000535:Aluminum
Aluminium-selective fluorescence microscopy; Familial Alzheimer’s disease; Human brain tissue; Human exposure to aluminium; Transversely heated graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry