Objectives: Ferritin is the main iron-storage protein capable of containing thousands of iron atoms. However, ferritin can bind in vitro other atoms such as aluminum and it has been shown that also in vivo atoms other than iron, as aluminum and zinc, are present in large amounts in ferritin. Since aluminum appears to be involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease, in the present study the specific content of aluminum in ferritin of Alzheimer's patients was analyzed and compared with other control groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has been hypothesized that pro-inflammatory cytokines may play a pathogenic role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may be protective against the development and progression of this disease. A reduced release of inflammatory cytokines by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from AD patients dietary supplemented with a mixture of eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was recently reported. On this basis, we investigated the possible differential effects of the two purified fatty acids on inflammatory cytokine release, a subject still not explored, even though of great pharmacological interest.
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