“The Role of Aluminum and Age-Dependent Decline”, 1989-05 (; similar):
[Letter to the editor about aluminum poisoning and aging. Bjorksten argues that cross-linkage, contrary to the discussed researchers claims, can be the main mechanism of the poisoning despite the tiny absolute amount of cross-linking agents.]
The cross-linking agents correspond to the ropes connecting a ship to a pier. Of all known types of chemical reactions, cross-linking is among those of which the smallest possible quantity of a reagent has the largest possible insolubilizing effect. A cross-linking agent is anything that has at least two reactive sites at some distance from each other. The aluminum ion is one of the most effective cross-linking agents and has for a century been used as such (6). More recent implications of these effects were covered in Bjorksten et al (8, 9).