Abstract

Human exposure to aluminium is a burgeoning issue. The brain is a sink for systemically available aluminium and a putative target of neurotoxicity. An increasing number of studies continue to confirm the presence of aluminium in human brain tissue though primarily in relation to donors who have died of a neurodegenerative or neurodevelopmental disorder. Herein, we have measured aluminium in brain tissue in donors who died of a specific disease or condition though without showing any neurodegeneration. The donors were diagnosed as not suffering from multiple sclerosis. Herein, these novel data are compared with recent data on aluminium in brain tissue in multiple sclerosis. Brain tissues from all four lobes were obtained from the Multiple Sclerosis Society Tissue Bank. Tissues were digested using microwave-assisted acid digestion and their aluminium content was measured by transversely heated graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Both are established methods in our laboratory. Detailed statistical analyses were used to compare new data with recent data for multiple sclerosis. Aluminium was found in brain tissue in each donor with a high proportion of measurements (189/291) being below 1.00 μg/g dry weight. The data for all cases (median and IQR) were 0.74 (0.48–1.28), 1.23 (0.62–1.63), 0.84 (0.45–1.14) and 1.01 (0.62–1.65) μg/g dry weight for occipital, parietal, temporal and frontal lobes, respectively. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between aluminium content of brain tissue and the age of donor. Comparison of data for this non-multiple sclerosis group with brain aluminium data for donors dying with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis showed that the latter had a statistically significant higher content of brain aluminium. The data reinforce a previous conclusion that the aluminium content of brain tissue in multiple sclerosis is elevated and support the suggestion that human exposure to aluminium may have a role to play in the aetiology of multiple sclerosis.

中文翻译：

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非神经变性/非神经发育疾病脑组织中的铝：与多发性硬化症的比较。

摘要

人类暴露于铝是一个新兴的问题。大脑是全身可利用的铝和神经毒性的潜在靶点。越来越多的研究继续确认铝在人脑组织中的存在，尽管主要与死于神经退行性疾病或神经发育障碍的供体有关。在本文中，我们测量了死于特定疾病或状况的捐献者脑组织中的铝，尽管未显示任何神经变性。捐献者被诊断没有患有多发性硬化症。在此，将这些新数据与关于多发性硬化症的脑组织中铝的最新数据进行比较。所有四个肺叶的脑组织均来自多发性硬化学会组织库。使用微波辅助酸消化消化组织，并通过横向加热石墨炉原子吸收光谱法测量组织中的铝含量。两者都是我们实验室中已建立的方法。详细的统计分析用于比较新数据与多发性硬化症的最新数据。在每个供体的脑组织中发现铝，其中很大一部分测量值（189/291）低于1.00μg/ g干重。枕叶，顶叶，颞叶和枕叶的干重分别为0.74（0.48–1.28），1.23（0.62–1.63），0.84（0.45-1.14）和1.01（0.62-1.65）μg/ g干重。额叶分别。脑组织中铝含量与供体年龄之间存在统计学上的显着正相关。该非多发性硬化症组的数据与死于多发性硬化症诊断的供体的脑铝数据的比较表明，后者具有统计学上显着较高的脑铝含量。该数据进一步证实了先前的结论，即多发性硬化症中脑组织的铝含量升高，并支持以下观点：人体暴露于铝可能在多发性硬化症的病因中起作用。