1. Instrumental neutron activation analysis of brain aluminum in Alzheimer disease and aging.
- Author
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Markesbery WR, Ehmann WD, Hossain TI, Alauddin M, and Goodin DT
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aluminum adverse effects, Alzheimer Disease chemically induced, Alzheimer Disease pathology, Child, Child, Preschool, Frontal Lobe pathology, Hippocampus pathology, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Middle Aged, Neurofibrils ultrastructure, Neutron Activation Analysis, Temporal Lobe pathology, Aluminum metabolism, Alzheimer Disease metabolism, Brain metabolism, Dementia metabolism
- Abstract
Instrumental neutron activation analysis procedures were used to determine the aluminum content of various brain regions in histologically verified Alzheimer disease (AD) and in controls. The grand mean aluminum level for 74 AD specimens was 0.372 +/- 0.058 microgram/gm and for 137 adult controls, 0.467 +/- 0.033 microgram/gm, both on a wet weight basis. No difference was found at the bulk sample level between AD and adult controls, corrected for age and sex, or when frontal, temporal, and hippocampal specimens were compared. Control specimens (infancy to 85 years) showed an increase in brain aluminum concentration with age. Comparison of freeze-dried to wet weight ratios of AD and controls revealed a small increase in water content in AD brains.
- Published
- 1981
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