Aluminosilicate-lnduced Free Radical Generation by Murine Brain Glial Cells in vitro: Potential Significance in the Aetiopathogenesis of Alzheimer's Dementia

Abstract

While previous studies have identified aluminosilicate deposits within the senile plaque cores from subjects with Alzheimer''s dementia, their possible role in the aetiopathogenesis of the disease remains unknown. In the present in vitro chemiluminescent study, we show that cultured murine glial cells exhibit the capacity to generate free radical and related oxygen-derived metabolites when exposed to various natural and synthetic model aluminosilicate particulate samples of differing particle size, morphology and composition. These results, if applicable to the proposed analogous in vivo situation in humans, suggest that further research into the biochemical and cellular mechanisms influencing the production and modulation of tissue-injurious free radical oxygen-derived metabolites within the brain, could have significant implications in the pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of Alzheimer''s disease.