Aluminum in Neurological and Neurodegenerative Disease
Authors: Vivian Jaber
Walter J Lukiw
Nathan M Sharfman
Catherine Bergeron
Zhide Fang
Yuhai Zhao
Donald R C McLachlan
Theodore P A Kruck
Aileen I Pogue
Peter N Alexandrov
Maire E Percy
Wenhong Li
William J Walsh
Journal: Molecular neurobiology (2019)
Discipline: NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR
Keywords: Aluminum; Alzheimer’s disease (AD); Dialysis dementia syndrome (DDS); Down’s syndrome (DS; trisomy 21)
Affiliations: Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada., Department of Neuropathology, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada., Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, 113152, Russia., Walsh Research Institute, Naperville, IL, 60540, USA., Alchem Biotek Research, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada., Surrey Place Center, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada., Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA., Department of Genetics, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA., Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center (LA CaTS), LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA., LSU Neuroscience Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA., Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA., Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Jiangxi University of TCM, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330004, People's Republic of China., Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, 113152, Russia. ., Alchem Biotek Research, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada. ., LSU Neuroscience Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA. ., Department of Neurology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA. ., Department of Ophthalmology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA. .

Abstract:  With continuing cooperation from 18 domestic and international brain banks over the last 36 years, we have analyzed the aluminum content of the temporal lobe neocortex of 511 high-quality human female brain samples from 16 diverse neurological and neurodegenerative disorders, including 2 groups of age-matched controls. Temporal lobes (Brodmann areas A20-A22) were selected for analysis because of their availability and their central role in massive information-processing operations including efferent-signal integration, cognition, and memory formation. We used the analytical technique of (i) Zeeman-type electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry (ETAAS) combined with (ii) preliminary analysis from the advanced photon source (APS) hard X-ray beam (7 GeV) fluorescence raster-scanning (XRFR) spectroscopy device (undulator beam line 2-ID-E) at the Argonne National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, University of Chicago IL, USA. Neurological diseases examined were Alzheimer's disease (AD; N = 186), ataxia Friedreich's type (AFT; N = 6), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; N = 16), autism spectrum disorder (ASD; N = 26), dialysis dementia syndrome (DDS; N = 27), Down's syndrome (DS; trisomy, 21; N = 24), Huntington's chorea (HC; N = 15), multiple infarct dementia (MID; N = 19), multiple sclerosis (MS; N = 23), Parkinson's disease (PD; N = 27), and prion disease (PrD; N = 11) that included bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE; "mad cow disease"), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and Gerstmann-Straussler-Sheinker syndrome (GSS), progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML; N = 11), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP; N = 24), schizophrenia (SCZ; N = 21), a young control group (YCG; N = 22; mean age, 10.2 ± 6.1 year), and an aged control group (ACG; N = 53; mean age, 71.4 ± 9.3 year). Using ETAAS, all measurements were performed in triplicate on each tissue sample. Among these 17 common neurological conditions, we found a statistically significant trend for aluminum to be increased only in AD, DS, and DDS compared to age- and gender-matched brains from the same anatomical region. This is the largest study of aluminum concentration in the brains of human neurological and neurodegenerative disease ever undertaken. The results continue to suggest that aluminum's association with AD, DDS, and DS brain tissues may contribute to the neuropathology of those neurological diseases but appear not to be a significant factor in other common disorders of the human brain and/or CNS. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
  Received: **21 November** 2018 Accepted: *27 November* 2018 This paper seems to be a duplicate publication, as a shorter version (containing the same results) was earlier submitted to and published in an OMICS journal,  Journal of Alzheimers Disease Parkinsonism . https: www.omicsonline.org open-access aluminum-in-neurological-disease--a-36-year-multicenter-study-2161-0460-1000457-106379.html  Received Date: **Nov 20**, 2018 Accepted Date: *Nov 22, 2018* Published Date: Nov 29, 2018 , 
 2020 retraction. https: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed 31970658 , 
 23 January 2020The Editor-in Chief of Molecular Neurobiology has retracted this article [1] at the request of the corresponding author. This is because it significantly overlaps with their previous publication [2]. Both articles report the same results and as such this article is redundant. , 
 #3 It was a good paper. Why an incomplete version was submitted to a parasitical journal from OMICS, one day before sending the complete version to Molecular Neurobiology, is anyone s guess. There is a story waiting to be told. ,