ALUMINUM AND IRON-INDUCED METABOLIC CHANGES IN NEUROBLASTOMA CELL-LINES AND RAT PRIMARY NEURAL CULTURES

The acute effects of low concentrations of aluminium (10(-12)-10(-3) m) in neural cell culture were investigated over 1-48 hr. Mitochondrial and lysosomal activities were used as measures of metabolic change after aluminium administration to C1300 mouse-derived neuroblastoma cells (C1300 N2A) and primary mixed cultures of rat embryonic mid-brain. Very rapid increases in mitochondrial and lysosomal activity occurred over periods as short as 3 hr. The aluminium-induced metabolic changes in C1300 N2A cells were compared with those produced by iron. The similar time course of metabolic events observed with iron is suggestive of a similar neurotoxicological mechanism. Experiments examining the effect of preincubation with the free radical scavenger, alpha -tocopherol (200 mu m), on the aluminium and iron induced changes in primary rat mid-brain cultures, showed an inhibition of these short-term metabolic events.