Oxidative stress hypothesis in alzheimer's disease

Copper, iron and zinc in Alzheimer's disease senile plaques

There are a number of ways in which a clinical diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer type can be made – the application of clinical criteria is the commonest but ancillary techniques such as neuroima

Clinical Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

Trace elements in human physiology and pathology: zinc and metallothioneins.

Oxidative stress and Alzheimer disease

Copper, iron, and zinc imbalances in severely degenerated brain regions in Alzheimer's disease: possible relation to oxidative stress

Concentrations of zinc in postmortem serum and four brain regions were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry and instrumental neutron activation analysis, respectively, in nine Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and eight control subjects. A statistically significant elevation of zinc serum was observed in AD subjects (136.4±66.8 µg/dL) compared with age-matched control subjects (71.1±35.0 µg/dL). No significant differences were observed between AD and control zinc concentrations in the amygdala, hippocampus, cerebellum, and superior and middle temporal gryi.

Serum Zinc Levels and Alzheimer's Disease

Chronic lead (Pb) intoxication has been linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Lead, like many heavy elements, tends to accumulate in bone. PIXE is a powerful analytical tool which permits the determination of Pb at the μg/g level without requiring sample digestion. GFAAS is one of the most sensitive methods for the determination of Pb and is capable of determining ng/g levels in solution. For bone analyses by GFAAS, sample dissolution and a matrix modifier are required. Rib bone samples were analyzed for Pb by PIXE and GFAAS. IAEA Animal Bone (H-5) was used as a secondary standard for Pb with both methods to ensure accuracy. The range of Pb concentrations in human rib bone was 1.4–11.5 μg/g for the trabecular surface by PIXE, 1.3–45 μg/g for the cortical surface by PIXE, and 1.54–11.75 μg/g for whole bone by GFAAS. No significant difference (p>0.05) was found for AD versus control for either surface or for whole bone.

Lead determinations in human bone by particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS)

Copper (Cu) is an essential element and is incorporated in many biomolecules that are involved in protecting the brain from oxidative damage. Many brain regions strongly affected by neurodegene rative diseases are small. A sensitive nondestructive procedure to determine Cu is desirable to preserve samples for additional studies. Copper is not easily determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) due to high activity levels produced by major abundance elements such as sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl), which produce a high Compton background. An INAA method involving a short epithermal neutron irradiation and counting with a Compton suppression system was developed to determine Cu in brain, via 5.1-min66Cu. These short irradiation results are compared to those based on coincidence spectrometry of annihilation photons from positron emitting 12.7-h64Cu after a long irradiation.

Non-destructive analysis of copper in human brain tissue by neutron activation analysis using coincidence and anti-coincidence techniques

Aluminum (Al) was measured in the spinal cords of 31 motor neuron disease (MND) patients and 17 control subjects from the United Kingdom. No significant elevation of Al was observed in the MND patients, compared with controls. This finding contrasts with other studies of spinal cord of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinsonism/dementia complex (ALS-PD) patients from the Western Pacific and Kii Peninsula of Japan. The lack of an MND-control difference for spinal cord Al concentrations and the relatively low levels of Al found in MND spinal cord do not support the hypothesis of a primary role for Al in the pathogenesis of MND.

M. A. Deibel

Papers

Copper, iron, and zinc imbalances in severely degenerated brain regions in Alzheimer's disease: possible relation to oxidative stress

Serum Zinc Levels and Alzheimer's Disease

Lead determinations in human bone by particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS)

Non-destructive analysis of copper in human brain tissue by neutron activation analysis using coincidence and anti-coincidence techniques

Aluminum in motor neuron disease spinal cord