The rationale for aluminum absorption control in early stages of alzheimer disease

Geochemical Risk Factors for Mental Functioning, Based on the Ontario Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSA) I. Results from a Preliminary Investigation

A partir de données fournies par l'étude longitudinale ontarienne sur le vieillissement, et d'autres données concernant la concentration en aluminium et en fluor des eaux des régions où habitent les sujets, une analyse préliminaire suggère que les sujets ne présentant aucune indication de mauvais fonctionnement mental avaient tendance à résider dans des zones où la concentration des eaux en aluminium est plutôt basse et où celle des eaux potables en fluor est plutôt élevée. Dans une analyse de ce type, il est probable que beaucoup de personnes affectés par un mauvais fonctionnement mental ne répondent pas aux questionnaires des études. L'identification des caractéristiques d'une santé mentale déficiente et l'obtention d'une juste appréciation de la concentration des eaux en aluminium et en fluor sont également source de difficulté.

Dementias: the role of magnesium deficiency and an hypothesis concerning the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease

Evidence is presented indicating that dementias are associated with a relative insufficiency of Magnesium (Mg) in the brain. Such insufficiency may be attributable to low intake or retention of Mg; high intake of a neurotoxic metal, such as aluminum (Al), which inhibits activity of Mg-requiring enzymes; or impaired transport of Mg and/or enhanced transport of the neurotoxic metal into brain tissue. It is proposed that Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves a defective transport process, characterized by both an abnormally high incorporation of Al and an abnormally low incorporation of Mg into brain neurons. The hypothesis is advanced that an altered serum protein contributes to the progression of AD by having a greater affinity for Al than for Mg, in contrast to the normal protein, which binds Mg better than Al. The altered protein crosses the blood-brain barrier more efficiently than the normal protein and competes with the normal protein in binding to brain neurons. Binding of the altered protein to the target neurons would both facilitate Al uptake and impede Mg uptake. Evidence suggests that albumin is the serum protein that is altered.

Tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA) as a pharmacological probe in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders

Unlike other potent enhancers of cholinergic function in the central nervous system (CNS), THA appears to sustain improved function in many moderately impaired AD patients when the Summers procedure is followed. THA has a complex pharmacology. In addition to its enhancement of cholinergic transmission a hydroxylated metabolite might chelate aluminum (A1), thereby removing multiple toxicological constraints on CNS function. This mobilized THA metabolite-A1 complex might either be re-distributed to less sensitive sites or removed from the CNS across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Since the known presence of A1 in AD brain is not necessarily causal, a positivistic approach to research and treatment with THA and its metabolites might serve to clarify this difficult and challenging problem.