Understanding Alzheimer’s: are Metallic Elemental forms directly linked to Disease Progression?

“Should the magnetic metals identified through this research be linked to the development of Alzheimer’s, they have a potential use as markers for disease diagnosis using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowing for pre-clinical disease screening of at-risk cohorts.” – James Everett

Nanoscale deposits of elemental metallic copper and magnetic elemental iron have, for the first time, been discovered in brain tissue of deceased Alzheimer’s patients by a UK-led team of scientists from the Universities of Warwick and Keele. Also working with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), the researchers conducted experiments at the UK’s Diamond Light Source and the Advanced Light Source in California (USA) to identify these metallic forms of iron and copper in ameloid plaques, which have distinctly different chemical and magnetic properties from their oxide forms.

Professor Joanna Collingwood, co-author and lead for the Trace Metals in Medicine Laboratory at the University of Warwick said:
“This is a fascinating and unexpected discovery, enabled by the sensitivity and precision of the synchrotron techniques we have used to study these human-brain-derived samples. We know that certain living systems can produce elemental forms of metals, so it will be important to discover if these arise from equivalent but previously undiscovered pathways in humans, or if the metallic forms arise as a direct consequence of disease.”

X-ray spectromicroscopy furthers understanding

Professor Peter Sadler, a medicinal chemist co-author at Warwick who specialises in research on metals in medicine, commented that:
“About 10 natural metals have roles in the brain. Studying their nano-speciation (their atomic chemical forms) in intact tissues is a major challenge. Our results show that synchrotron X-ray spectromicroscopy can reveal a totally new picture of metal neurochemistry that eventually might lead to new understanding of how the brain works and to new treatments for neurological conditions.”

Dr James Everett, a lead author from Keele University and an Honorary Fellow at Warwick, said: “Should the magnetic metals identified through this research be linked to the development of Alzheimer’s, they have a potential use as markers for disease diagnosis using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowing for pre-clinical disease screening of at-risk cohorts.”

The paper, ‘Biogenic metallic elements in the human brain?’, published in the journal Science Advances, was funded by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

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