SYNOPSIS
Alzheimer’s victims have very high brain aluminum levels, a potent neurotoxin.
TITLE
Aluminium in brain tissue in familial Alzheimer’s disease
CITATION
Ambreen Mirza, Andrew King, Claire Troakes, Christopher Exley. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, November 2016.
SUMMARY
“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 10??g/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.”