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Alteration Of Biomolecular Conformation By Aluminum-Implications For Protein Misfolding Disease, Yuhai Zhao, Aileen I. Pogue, Peter N. Alexandrov, Leslie G. Butler, Wenhong Li, Vivian R. Jaber, Walter J. Lukiw

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

The natural element aluminum possesses a number of unique biochemical and biophysical properties that make this highly neurotoxic species deleterious towards the structural integrity, conformation, reactivity and stability of several important biomolecules. These include aluminum’s (i) small ionic size and highly electrophilic nature, having the highest charge density of any metallic cation with a Z2/r of 18 (ionic charge +3, radius 0.5 nm); (ii) inclination to form extremely stable electrostatic bonds with a tendency towards covalency; (iii) ability to interact irreversibly and/or significantly slow down the exchange-rates of complex aluminum–biomolecular interactions; (iv) extremely dense electropositive charge with one of the …