DEGENERATIVE CHANGES IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM OF JAPANESE MONKEYS INDUCED BY ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF ALUMINUM SALT

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Abstract
Experimental studies on aluminum (Al) neurotoxicity were conducted using 16 adult male Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) under a Ca,Mg-deficient condition. The Ca,Mg-deficiency is one of the known factors in the high incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in the Kii Peninsula (Japan), Guam Island, and West New Guinea (Western Pacific areas). In Al neurotoxicity induced by Ca,Mg-deficiency and excess Al, were observed body weight loss, increase in plasma creatine phosphokinase activity, muscle atrophy, chromatolytic spinal neurons with eccentric nuclei, increase in number of argyrophilic bodies, and accumulation of maloriented 10-nm neurofilaments in swollen axons. Some of these changes were also produced by Ca,Mg-deficiency without excess Al. Results suggest that Ca,Mg-deficiency accelerates Al absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in accumulation of the neurofilaments.