Aluminium and iron induced metabolic changes in neuroblastoma cell lines and rat primary neural cultures

The acute effects of low concentrations of aluminium (10(-12)-10(-3)m) in neural cell culture were investigated over 1-48 hr. Mitochondrial and lysosomal activities were used as measures of metabolic change after aluminium administration to C1300 mouse-derived neuroblastoma cells (C1300 N2A) and primary mixed cultures of rat embryonic mid-brain. Very rapid increases in mitochondrial and lysosomal activity occurred over periods as short as 3 hr. The aluminium-induced metabolic changes in C1300 N2A cells were compared with those produced by iron. The similar time course of metabolic events observed with iron is suggestive of a similar neurotoxicological mechanism. Experiments examining the effect of preincubation with the free radical scavenger, alpha-tocopherol (200 mum), on the aluminium and iron induced changes in primary rat mid-brain cultures, showed an inhibition of these short-term metabolic events.