Gulf War Syndrome is a multi-system disorder afflicting many veterans…
A number of those afflicted may show neurological deficits including various cognitive dysfunctions and motor neuron disease, the latter expression virtually indistinguishable from classical amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) except for the age of onset.
Possible causes of GWS include several of the adjuvants in the anthrax vaccine and others. The most likely culprit appears to be aluminum hydroxide.
In an initial series of experiments, we examined the potential toxicity of aluminum hydroxide…
Aluminum-treated mice showed significantly increased apoptosis of motor neurons and increases in reactive astrocytes and microglial proliferation within the spinal cord and cortex.
[We] detected the presence of aluminum in the cytoplasm of motor neurons…
A second series of experiments was conducted on mice injected with six doses of aluminum hydroxide. Behavioural analyses in these mice revealed significant impairments in a number of motor functions as well as diminished spatial memory capacity.
[A]ttention has recently been directed at the anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA) and various vaccine ingredients, in particular the known and suspected adjuvants, aluminum hydroxide and squalene.
An adjuvant is a substance added during vaccine production designed to non-specifically increase the immune response to an antigen.
Currently aluminum, in various forms (aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate and aluminum sulfate), is the most commonly licensed adjuvant…
In spite of the long history of widespread use, the physicochemical interactions between aluminum compounds and antigens are relatively poorly understood and their underlying mechanisms remain relatively unstudied.
[T]here have been no rigorous animal studies of potential aluminum adjuvant toxicity. The absence of such studies is peculiar given the well known observation that aluminum in general can be neurotoxic under a number of conditions and adjuvants in particular have previously been implicated in neurological disease.
In context to the use of aluminum in vaccines, LD50 values for aluminum hydroxide have not been published to date to the best of our knowledge.
The potential for aluminum injections to induce macrophagic myofasciitis has also been noted in the literature.
The behavioural outcomes in the second experiment reported here reinforce the pathological outcomes seen in the first studies.
[T]he extent of the behavioural deficits strongly suggests that we will observe widespread neuronal pathologies. The greater extent of the behavioural outcomes in this experiment may be related to the experimental paradigm that tripled the number of aluminum hydroxide injections.
[T]he results reported here mirror previous work that has clearly demonstrated that aluminum, in both oral and injected forms, can be neurotoxic.
[M]echanisms of action for aluminum may include enhancement of inflammation (i.e., microgliosis) and the interference with cholinergic projections, reduced glucose utilization, defective phosphorylation-dephosphorylation reactions, altered rate of transmembrane diffusion and selective changes in saturable transport systems in the blood brain barrier (BBB), and oxidative damage on cellular processes by the inhibition of the glutathione redox cycle.
Aluminum in its adjuvant form can gain access to the CNS, however, oral administration of aluminum hydroxide gel does not appear to be neurotoxic in humans, although aluminum chloride is, in rats. The route of exposure, and perhaps the form of aluminum, may be important factors that determine the potential for toxicity.
[A]luminum might act indirectly by stimulating abnormal, generalized immune responses. This is, in fact, what adjuvants are placed in vaccines to do in the first place. Adjuvant neurotoxicity could thus be the result of an imbalanced immune response.
While the current results and our previous study have demonstrated significant behavioural and neuropathological outcomes with aluminum hydroxide and some additionally significant outcomes due to a combination of adjuvants, it is important to recognize that these were achieved under minimal conditions.
The likelihood exists that a synergistic effect between adjuvants and other variables such as stress, multiple vaccinations, and exposure to other toxins likely occurs.
In addition, a genetic background in context to aluminum exposure may play a crucial role and may be an important area for future research.