The Identification of Aluminum in Human Brain Tissue Using Lumogallion and Fluorescence Microscopy
Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease xx (20xx) x–xxDOI 10.3233/JAD-160648IOS Pres
Ambreen Mirza- a, Andrew King -b,c, Claire Troakes- c and Christopher Exley- a,∗4
a -The Birchall Centre, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK
b- Department of Clinical Neuropathology, King’s College Hospital, London, UK
c- MRC London Neurodegenerative Diseases Brain Bank, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience,King’s College, London, UK
Abstract.
Aluminum in human brain tissue is implicated in the etiologies of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease. While methods for the accurate and precise measurement of aluminum in human brain tissue are widely acknowl-edged, the same cannot be said for the visualization of aluminum. Herein we have used transversely-heated graphite furnaceatomic absorption spectrometry to measure aluminum in the brain of a donor with Alzheimer’s disease, and we have devel-oped and validated fluorescence microscopy and the fluor lumogallion to show the presence of aluminum in the same tissue. Aluminum is observed as characteristic orange fluorescence that is neither reproduced by other metals nor explained byautofluorescence. This new and relatively simple method to visualize aluminum in human brain tissue should enable morerigorous testing of the aluminum hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease (and other neurological conditions) in the future.
Keywords: Aluminum, Alzheimer’s disease, brain tissue, fluorescence microscopy, lumogallion, transversely heated graphitefurnace atomic absorption spectrometry
