Imaging of calcium and aluminum in neurofibrillary tangle-bearing neurons in parkinsonism-dementia of Guam.

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Abstract
The distribution and imaging of Ca and Al in neurofibrillary tangle (NFT)-bearing neurons with Sommer''s sector of the hippocampus in Guamanian patients with parkinsonism-dementia, using a method of computer-controlled electron beam X-ray microanalysis and wavelength dispersive spectrometry, are reported. Ca and Al were distributed in cell bodies and axonal processes of NFT-bearing neurons. The elemental images show that both Ca and Al deposits occur within the same NFT-bearing hippocampal neuron in this dementing disease, suggesting that these elements are involved in NFT formation. No prominent concentrations of Ca and Al were imaged in non-NFT-containing regions within the pyramidal cell layer of the parkinsonism-dementia cases or in the control cases. Evidently, secondary hyperparathyroidism resulting from low environmental Ca and Mg in the high-incidence focus of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and parkinsonism-dementia on Guam had led to abnormal deposition of Ca and Al in the CNS.