Cultured cells of the nervous system, including human neurones, in the study of the neuro-degenerative disorder, Alzheimer's disease: an overview.

Human nervous-system cells in culture are a suitable model for the study of the degenerative changes associated with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer-diseased brain contains a factor which induces the formation of paired helical filaments (PHF) in cultured cells, similar to that seen in Alzheimer's disease. The excitotoxic amino acids, glutamate and aspartate, induce similar PHE formation in cultured cells. The neurotoxic element aluminium is present in high concentrations in the brain in several human neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. In cultured-cell systems, aluminium interacts with acidic nuclear proteins, decreases steroid binding, produces a form of neurofibrillary degeneration and alters nucleoside metabolism.