Some aspects of astroglial functions and aluminum implications for neurodegeneration

Does neurotransmission impairment accompany aluminium neurotoxicity?

“…Recently, Aremu and Meshitsuka [46] summarized the main effects of aluminium on astrocyte function; these are particularly relevant in the context of the tripartite synapse, a junction of presynaptic terminal and postsynaptic membrane enveloped by an astrocytic process [47]. This review will focus on the analysis of the effects of aluminium on the main steps of neurotransmission, namely synthesis and storage of neurotransmitters, triggered release from presynaptic terminal, interaction with receptors on the postsynaptic cell and inactivation of neurotransmitters.…”

“…The importance of neurotoxic effects when considering intoxication by the third most abundant element in the earth's crust has been highlighted in previous excellent reviews on aluminium toxicity [46,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. Neurobehavioral alterations and neurodegenerative pathological changes following exposure to aluminium were considered as important.…”

Aluminum‐induced defective mitochondrial metabolism perturbs cytoskeletal dynamics in human astrocytoma cells

“…Al, a pro-oxidant, has also been shown to perturb the cytoskeleton in neurons and astrocytes (Aremu and Meshitsuka, 2006). In fact, the loss of cytoskeletal dynamics and astrocyte morphology has been associated with the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (Ting et al, 2007).…”

Gene expression in primary cultured astrocytes affected by aluminum: alteration of chaperons involved in protein folding

“…This is very important given that recent studies have demonstrated that astrocytes play active roles in neuronal regulation and modulation [26][27][28]. It has also been suggested that the loss of astrocyte functions may precede neurodegeneration and that aluminum could be a contributing factor [29,30]. For example, astrocytes have been shown to undergo an active process of apoptosis in Alzheimer's disease (AD) [31] and that this process may precede the death of neurons [32].…”

“…The aim of the study reported here was to determine how aluminum exposure affects the expression of a number of important ER stress-related genes, given the likely link between aluminum and ER stress and the observed apoptosis in astrocytes reported in earlier studies [23,25,30]. The B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) family of proteins was also studied to clarify the contributions of ER and mitochondria in the pathways involved in aluminum-induced apoptosis in cultured astrocytes.…”