Microprobe PIXE analysis of aluminium in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

To investigate the cause of Alzheimer's disease (senile dementia), we examined aluminium (Al) in the rat liver, and in the brains (hippocampus) of Alzheimer's disease patients using heavy ion (5 MeV Si 3+) microprobe and proton (2 MeV) microprobe PIXE analysis. Heavy ion microprobes (3 MeV Si 2+) have several time's higher sensitivity for Al detection than 2 MeV proton microprobes. (1) In the rat liver, Al was detected in the cell nuclei, where phosphorus (P) was most densely distributed. (2) We also demonstrated Al in the cell nuclei isolated from Alzheimer's disease brains using heavy ion (5 MeV Si 3+) microprobes. Al spectra were detected using 2 MeV proton microprobes in the isolated brain cell nuclei. Al could not be observed in areas where P was present in relatively small amounts, or was absent. Our results indicate that Alzheimer's disease is caused by irreversible accumulation of Al in the nuclei of brain cells.