Metabolism and possible health effects of aluminum

Environ Health Perspect. 1986 Mar:65:363-441. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8665363.

Abstract

Literature regarding the biochemistry of aluminum and eight similar ions is reviewed. Close and hitherto unknown similarities were found. A hypothetical model is presented for the metabolism, based on documented direct observations of Al3+ and analogies from other ions. Main characteristics are low intestinal absorption, rapid urinary excretion, and slow tissue uptake, mostly in skeleton and reticuloendothelial cells. Intracellular Al3+ is probably first confined in the lysosomes but then slowly accumulates in the cell nucleus and chromatin. Large, long-lived cells, e.g., neurons, may be the most liable to this accumulation. In heterochromatin, Al3+ levels can be found comparable to those used in leather tannage. It is proposed that an accumulation may take place at a subcellular level without any significant increase in the corresponding tissue concentration. The possible effects of this accumulation are discussed. As Al3+ is neurotoxic, the brain metabolism is most interesting. The normal and the lethally toxic brain levels of Al3+ are well documented and differ only by a factor of 3-10. The normal brain uptake of Al3+ is estimated from data on intestinal uptake of Al3+ and brain uptake of radionuclides of similar ions administered intravenously. The uptake is very slow, 1 mg in 36 years, and is consistent with an assumption that Al3+ taken up by the brain cannot be eliminated and is therefore accumulated. The possibility that Al3+ may cause or contribute to some specific diseases, most of them related to aging, is discussed with the proposed metabolic picture in mind.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Actin Cytoskeleton / drug effects
  • Aluminum / metabolism*
  • Aluminum / pharmacology
  • Aluminum / toxicity
  • Alzheimer Disease / etiology
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / etiology
  • Aneuploidy
  • Animals
  • Autoimmune Diseases / immunology
  • Beryllium / metabolism
  • Biological Transport
  • Bone and Bones / metabolism
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Cations
  • Cell Division
  • Cells / metabolism
  • Chromium / metabolism
  • Connective Tissue / metabolism
  • Cytoplasm / metabolism
  • DNA / metabolism
  • Down Syndrome / etiology
  • Encephalitis / etiology
  • Erythrocytes / metabolism
  • Feces / metabolism
  • Gallium / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Hypersensitivity / immunology
  • Immunity, Cellular
  • Indium / metabolism
  • Intestinal Absorption
  • Intestinal Mucosa / metabolism
  • Lung / metabolism
  • Membrane Lipids / metabolism
  • Microtubules / drug effects
  • Muscular Dystrophies / etiology
  • Nondisjunction, Genetic / drug effects
  • Osteomalacia / etiology
  • Parkinson Disease / etiology
  • Renal Dialysis / adverse effects
  • Scandium / metabolism
  • Tissue Distribution
  • Transferrin / metabolism
  • Yttrium / metabolism
  • Zirconium / metabolism

Substances

  • Cations
  • Membrane Lipids
  • Transferrin
  • Indium
  • Chromium
  • Yttrium
  • DNA
  • Zirconium
  • Gallium
  • Aluminum
  • Beryllium
  • Scandium