EFFECTS OF THE ALUMINUM SPECIATION ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF RABBIT ERYTHROCYTES - A TOXICOLOGICAL MODEL

The great majority of papers dealing with aluminium (Al) experimental toxicology in vivo and/or bz vitro, do not consider the relevance of t he metal chemical speciation as a conditio sine qua noil to a correct interpretation of aluminium toxicological data. In fact, different alu minium compounds such as salts, stable, metastable, lipophilic or hydr ophilic complexes with different thermodynamics and kinetics propertie s are indifferently utilized by most laboratories. In this connection, the molecular bases that explain Al toxicity are largely uninterpreta ble. The aim of this study, therefore, is to demonstrate how relevant is the issue of aluminium speciation to the understanding of the toxic properties of the metal ion. In our experimentation we used, as a heu ristic model, rabbit erythrocytes (RBC) (Sheetz and Singer, 1974), bec ause these animals are well known for their sensitivity to Al intoxica tion (Wisniewski and Sturman, 1989). Results reported herein show how the metal chemical speciation can paradigmatically modify the RBC morp hology in a metal speciation-dependent manner. Finally, a new toxicolo gical protocol that, by simplifying the methodology of aluminium solut ion preparation, could standardize the study of aluminium toxicity is also proposed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.