Abstract
Aluminum (Al) has, until recently, existed predominantly in forms that are not available to humans. Acid rain, however, has dramatically increased the amount of Al in biological ecosystems, resulting in the well-documented destructive effects in fish and plant species1). Although the occurrence of dialysis osteomalacia is closely associated with long-term Al accumulation, the exact role of this metal in the pathogenesis is not yet known. The effects of Al on healthy humans are, almost without exception, unknown. This ignorance has stimulated the search for animal models to obtain insight into the pathogenesis and biochemical mechanisms underlying the human disorders. In this review, several pathophysiologic mechanisms of Al toxicity in bone are summarized.
