Professor Dobson said: “Iron accumulation and dysregulation of iron transport and storage has been found to be associated with many other neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease (HD), multiple sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In recent years, a hereditary neurodegenerative disease, neuroferritinopathy, has been linked to a mutation in the gene encoding for the ferritn light polypeptide. This direct link between neurodegeneration in the basal ganglia and ferritin, the body’s primary iron storage protein, results in the accumulation of iron in the brain and symptoms similar to HD.

“There is still little known about the chemical form of iron associated with these diseases, its role in neurodegeneration (if any) and its origin. Investigations of brain iron based on histochemical staining techniques have generally ignored its chemical state.”

This study shows a clear correlation in the concentration and the size of the biogenic magnetite in both the Alzheimer disease and control groups. It is also notable that the largest magnetite concentrations and smallest particles are all from Alzheimer disease subjects, and that the data from the control subjects follow the same trend. This implies that the genesis of the biogenic magnetite may be the same in all cases, but that in Alzheimer Disease it may be more indicative of an accelerated process.

Professor Dobson added: “We speculate that magnetite formation within the ferritin core may occur generally in the brain, perhaps associated with aging, and that the process may become abnormal and uncontrolled in the Alzheimer brain. At this stage, this should be considered a working hypothesis and needs to be examined in larger studies. It appears, however, that elevated levels of magnetic iron oxides, which include reactive Fe2+, are present in AD tissue, a finding that lends weight to the suggestion that redox-active iron may play a role in neurodegenerative disease."

This work was supported by the UK Medical Research Council and National Institutes of Health.
A paper on the study, Increased Levels of Magnetic Compunds in Alzheimer’s Disease, is scheduled for publication in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (Volume 13:1).

The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (www.j-alz.com) is an international multidisciplinary journal to facilitate progress in understanding the etiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, genetics, behavior, treatment and psychology of Alzheimer's disease. The journal publishes research reports, reviews, short communications, book reviews, and letters-to-the-editor. Groundbreaking research that has appeared in the journal includes novel therapeutic targets, mechanisms of disease and clinical trial outcomes. The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has an Impact Factor of 3.058 according to Thomson Scientific Institute for Scientific Information's 2006 Journal Citation Reports.