Aluminosilicates and the ageing brain: implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease

Senile plaques are a neuropathological feature of the ageing brain and consist of abnormal neuritic and glial processes surrounding an extracellular core of material with fibrillary ultrastructure. Present at low densities in the cerebral cortex of most aged individuals, they occur in large numbers in Alzheimer's disease, the major form of senile dementia. Energy-dispersive X-ray microprobe analysis of isolated cores and plaques in situ from patients with Alzheimer's disease or Down's syndrome and from normal controls has shown co-localization of high concentrations of aluminium (4-19%) and silicon (6-24%) at the centre of the core. The presence of these elements as aluminosilicates has been confirmed using solid-state 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance. These findings provide a link with the other major neuropathological feature of Alzheimer's disease, the neurofibrillary tangle-bearing neurons, where high intracellular levels of Al and Si have also been reported. The focal deposition of these elements may be an early and essential factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer-type changes, reflecting an increased exposure to aluminium.