This study was performed to investigate the effects of aluminum sulfate administration on the brain tissues of old rats, when given at different concentrations. The experiment attempted to further ascertain whether aluminum exposure cause Alzheimer's disease. Seventy-five aged Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups; a control group, 2 ppm aluminum sulfate group, 20 ppm aluminum sulfate group, 40 ppm aluminum sulfate group, and 200 ppm aluminum sulfate group, and were kept on the respective diets for 12 weeks. In order to understand the influence of aluminum on the brain, serum aluminum concentrations, phospholipid composition, and catecholamine concentrations were compared between the aluminum-treated groups and the normal group. According to the results, serum aluminum was higher in the aluminum sulfate-treated groups than in the normal group. Within the cortex, catecholamine concentrationes were significantly increased but cerebellum and brainstem tissue were significantly decreased, in the aluminum sulfate-treated groups compared to the normal group. For phospholipid composition, phosphatidyl inositol was significantly increased wherase phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, and phosphatidyl serine were significantly decreased in the aluminum sulfate-treated groups versus the normal group. Based on the data, increased aluminum consumption in experimental animals causes increased serum aluminum levels and catecholamine variation. These phenomena are very similar to conditions of Alzherimer's disease. Therfore, the results of this experiment further suggest that aluminum cause Alzherimer's disease, coinciding with reports that aluminum is a cause of neurofibrilly tangles in the brain.

Acetylcholinesterase(AChE) is an enzyme which hydrolyses acetylcholine into choline and acetate. Glucose and Adenosine-5'-Triphosphate(ATP) are the primary energy source for the brain and therefore defects in glucose metabolism and the mitochondrial system can affect cognitive function. The fact that the level of acetylcholine(ACh), neurotransmitter, glucose and ATP, are found to be decreased in the brain of Alzheimer patients has lead us to focus on the inhibition of AChE for the developmental research of the Alzheimer's disease(AD) treatment. In this paper we describe the effects of herbal medicine 9908(滌痰化瘀湯加減) in vitro and in vivo. As herb 9908 concentraion increased, the Vmax values of AChE from Electric eel were decreased, which showed that the activity of AChE in vitro was decreased. Also herb 9908 inhibit AChE activity in vivo. When herb 9908 was orally administrated to rats, amount of glucose and ATP which are energy source in metabolism, increase in brain and blood of rats. These result are also interesting in their effects for AD treatment compare with comercial drugs such as Cognex and Aricept. Furthermore, when considering the toxic problems of the Cognex and the Aricept, these oriental medicines could be very valuable medicine for treatment of AD. Abbreviation AD: Alzhemer's disease, AChE: acetylcholinesterase, ACh: acetylcholine, ATCh: acetylthiocholine, DTNB: 5,5‘-dithio-bis-2-nitrobenzoate, ATP: Adenosine-5'-triphosphate GAPD: Glyceraldehydephosphate dehydrogenase PGK : phosphoglycerate phosphokinase