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 af ter aluminium administration to C1300 mouse-derived neuroblastoma cell s (C1300 N2A) and primary mixed cultures of rat embryonic mid-brain. V ery rapid increases in mitochondrial and lysosomal activity occurred o ver periods as short as 3 hr. The aluminium-induced metabolic changes in C1300 N2A cells were compared with those produced by iron. The simi lar time course of metabolic events observed with iron is suggestive o f a similar neurotoxicological mechanism. Experiments examining the ef fect of preincubation with the free radical scavenger, alpha -tocopher ol (200 mu m), on the aluminium and iron induced changes in primary ra t mid-brain cultures, showed an inhibition of these short-term metabol ic events.