Aluminum Is Intricately Associated With the Neuropathology of Familial Alzheimer's Disease

A new study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Reports backs a growing body of evidence that aluminum plays a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), reports ScienceDaily . Researchers determined that aluminum co-located with phosphorylated tau protein, present as tangles within neurons in the brains of early-onset or familial AD. This builds upon findings in earlier studies, which highlighted widespread co-localization of aluminum and amyloid-ß in brain tissue in familial AD. "It is of interest and perhaps significance with respect to aluminum's role in AD that its unequivocal association with tau is not as easily recognizable as with amyloid-ß," explained Keele University Professor Christopher Exley. "There are many more aggregates of aluminum with amyloid-ß than with tau in these tissues and the latter are predominantly intracellular." Keele's Matthew John Mold added that the new findings "may suggest association of aluminum with extracellular senile plaques precedes that with intracellular aggregates of tau. These relationships with both amyloid-ß and tau may account for the high levels of aluminum observed in the brain tissue of donors with familial AD versus those without a diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease."