This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Peter A. E. Sillevis Smitt, MD; Hugo van Beek; Aalbert-Jan Baars, PhD; Dirk Troost, MD; Elisabeth S. Louwerse, MD; Antonia C. M. Krops-Hermus; Frederik A. de Wolff, PhD; J. M. B. Vianney de Jong, MD

Arch Neurol. 1992;49(7):721-724.

Abstract
• To evaluate the putative role of metals and trace elements in the pathogenesis of classic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, we studied the metallothionein levels in liver and kidney samples obtained at autopsy from 24 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 18 controls. To assay metallothioneins and copper, cadmium, and zinc bound to metallothioneins, we used high-performance liquid chromatography directly coupled to flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Total cadmium, zinc, and copper concentrations were determined separately with the use of graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with Zeeman background correction. The median liver metallothionein level was 60.3 mg/kg (range, 9 to 318 mg/kg) in the patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 12.6 mg/kg (range, 0 to 104.5 mg/kg) in the controls. In the kidney, median metallothionein levels were 126.9 mg/kg (range, 44 to 387 mg/kg) in the patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 64 mg/kg (range, 13.1 to 187 mg/kg) in the controls. Total zinc, cadmium, and copper concentrations, as measured by atomic absorption spectrometry, were not significantly different in patients vs controls. Our finding of elevated metallothionein levels in organs from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may indicate an increased exposure to metals.

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Neurology (Drs Sillevis Smitt, Louwerse, and de Jong), Neuropathology (Dr Troost), and Occupational and Environmental Health (Dr de Wolff), Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, and the Department of Biochemistry and Toxicology, Central Veterinary Institute, Lelystad (Mr van Beek, Dr Baars, and Ms Krops-Hermus), the Netherlands.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication January 30, 1992.

Reprint requests to the Department of Neurology, Academic Medical Centre H-2-214, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Dr Sillevis Smitt).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Metals in motor neuron diseases.
Roos et al.
Exp. Biol. Med. 2006;231:1481-1487.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Acquired Cadmium Resistance in Metallothionein-I/II(-/-) Knockout Cells: Role of the T-Type Calcium Channel Cacn{alpha}1G in Cadmium Uptake
Leslie et al.
Mol. Pharmacol. 2006;69:629-639.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT