Experimental model of motor neuron disease : oral aluminum neurotoxicity

To evaluate the pathogenetic role of environmental factors, especially metal intoxication, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we conducted neuropathological and morphometrical studies of chronic oral aluminum (Al) neurotoxicity using young Japanese white rabbits fed a Ca- and Mg-deficient diet supplemented with Al-citrate for 7 to 19 months. Spheroids and globules, which were seen as axonal swellings packed with interwoven, small bundles of 10-nm neurofilaments, chromatolytic neurons, and degenerated neurons with satellite gliosis, were observed in the anterior horn of the spinal cord of rabbits treated with Al-citrate. Spheroids and globules were immunohistochemically stained with SMI 31, a monoclonal antibody for phosphorylated neurofilament heavy and medium epitopes