Aluminum neurotoxicity: an experimental approach to the induction of neurofilamentous inclusions.

Acute or chronic aluminum neurotoxicity experiments in the rabbit suggest that aluminum can induce phosphorylation of neurofilamentous proteins. This may result in abnormal resistance to degradation or transport of neurofilament protein and so to the accumulation of neurofilaments in abnormal cells. The possible importance of this process in ALS is considered in relation to the neurofilamentous abnormalities characteristic of intraneuronal inclusions in ALS and in other neurodegenerative disorders.