EFFECTS OF ALUMINUM SALTS ON CULTURED NEUROBLASTOMA CELLS

Experimental induction of neurofibrillary tangles was demonstrated several years ago in the central nervous system of rabbits injected with aluminum salts. In the current studies, neuroblastoma cells, capable of morphologic and biochemical differentiation in monolayer culture, have been exposed to medium containing aluminum phosphate; such treatment resulted in an abundant accumulation of 100 Å neurofilaments after 6 days of continous exposure to the aluminum salt. While growth rates and incorporation of radioactive thymidine in treated cells remained similar to controls, total cellular protein, and incorporation of radioactive leucine were significantly increased. Paradoxically, when the protein content of aluminum‐treated cultures was maximal, these cultures contained about 20 per cent less ribosomal RNA per cell than in control cultures. In addition, activity of an important neuronal protein, i.e. acetylcholinesterase, was depressed in treated cultures to a level below control values. Both temporal and morphologic similarities between treated neuroblastoma cultures and animals injected with aluminum salts suggest that the observed changes in macromolecular synthesis in cell culture are relevant to in vivo studies.