BUNINA BODY FORMATION IN AMYOTROPHIC-LATERAL-SCLEROSIS - A MORPHOMETRIC-STATISTICAL AND TRACE-ELEMENT STUDY FEATURING ALUMINUM

Clinico-environmental and pathological variables were obtained from 10 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using particle-induced X- ray emission spectrometry (PIXE) and morphometric-statistical analysis . Statistical analysis identified a model that maximally predicts the Bb% (frequency of Bunina bodies) from a selected set, four variables: (1) nucleolar index, (2) magnesium (Mg) content, (3) aluminum (Al) con tent, and (4) duration of illness. Among them, only the Al content pro ved important. To determine their chemical nature, electron energy los s spectrometry (EELS) was applied at the ultrastructural level; it rev ealed that within the motor neuron, Al strongly binds to the Bunina bo dy as well as rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER), and lesser strongly t o mitochondria and lipofuscin granule. Thus, it is chemically similar to the rER, providing preferential binding sites to aluminum. The Buni na bodies may be an end-product of the nucleic acid dysmetabolism at r ER caused by Al along with Mg depletion.