School of Life Sciences
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Chris Exley graduated from Stirling in 1985 with a 2i Honours degree in Biology. It was during the 4th and final year of my degree that I undertook my first research on aluminium. The title of my undergraduate thesis was : "Aluminium toxicity to Atlantic salmon smolts, Salmo salar, and juvenile rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri, in acid waters". I remained at Stirling to undertake a PhD in the Institute of Aquaculture, funded by ICI and supervised by Professor JD Birchall OBE FRS (ICI). The title of my PhD is: "Amelioration of aluminium toxicity in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., with particular reference to aluminium/silicon interactions". I followed my PhD with a 3 year ICI postdoctoral fellowship in the Institute of Aquaculture (1989-1992) before moving to Keele University in the summer of 1992 as an ICI Research Fellow (1992-1994) to help JD Birchall establish The Unit of Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science in the Department of Chemistry. In 1994 I was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in "The Bioinorganic Chemistry of Aluminium and Silicon".
I am interested in the myriad ways that aluminium impacts upon life on earth. In particular we have studied the interaction of aluminium with silicic acid to form hydroxyaluminosilicates and the importance of this interaction in keeping aluminium out of life. Other areas of interest include what we define as the biological availability of aluminium in which we are trying to understand how physical, chemical and biological processes combine to determine the accumulation, distribution, metabolism and excretion of aluminium. These interests cover all forms of life, from microbes to man, impacting upon fundamental bioinorganic chemistry as well as the latter allied to medicine and in particular neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. I also have an ongoing interest in biosilicification.
Selected Publications
Full Publications List show
Books
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Exley C (Ed.). 2001. Aluminium and Alzheimer's Disease: The Science that Desribes the Link. Elsevier Science Ltd, Amsterdam.
Journal Articles
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2012. Regular consumption of a silicic acid-rich water prevents aluminium-induced alterations of nitrergic neurons in mouse brain: histochemical and immunohistochemical studies. HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY, vol. 27(8), 1055-1066. link>
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2007. Organosilicon therapy in Alzheimer's disease?. J Alzheimers Dis, vol. 11(3), 301-302. link>
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2007. Computational approach to the blood-aluminum problem?. International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, vol. 107(2), 275-278. doi>
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2007. Aluminium, tau and Alzheimer's disease. JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE, vol. 12(4), 313-315. link>
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2006. A vexing Commentary on the important issue of aluminium and Alzheimer' disease. J Alzheimers Dis, vol. 10(4), 451-452. link>
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2006. Aluminium and iron, but neither copper nor zinc, are key to the precipitation of beta-sheets of Abeta_{42} in senile plaque cores in Alzheimer's disease. J Alzheimers Dis, vol. 10(2-3), 173-177. link>
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2006. Non-invasive therapy to reduce the body burden of aluminium in Alzheimer's disease. J Alzheimers Dis, vol. 10(1), 17-24. link>
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2006. Vascular variant of Alzheimer's disease in a patient with elevated brain aluminium and previous high aluminium exposure. JOURNAL OF NEURAL TRANSMISSION, vol. 113(6), X. link>
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2006. Funding should recognize outcome, not income. Nature, vol. 440. doi>
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2006. Redox cycling of iron by Aβ42. Free Radical Biology and Medicine , vol. 40(4), 557-569. doi>
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2005. The formation, precipitation and structural characterisation of hydroxyaluminosilicates formed in the presence of fluoride and phosphate. Polyhedron , vol. Volume 24 Issue 12(12), 1585-1592. doi>
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2005. The pro-oxidant activity of aluminum. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, vol. 38(2), 294. doi>
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2005. The aluminium-amyloid cascade hypothesis and Alzheimer's disease. Subcell Biochem, vol. 38, 225-234. link>
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2004. Aluminium, iron, zinc and copper influence the in vitro formation of amyloid fibrils of Abeta42 in a manner which may have consequences for metal chelation therapy in Alzheimer's disease. J Alzheimers Dis, vol. 6(3), 291-301. link>
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2004. The pro-oxidant activity of aluminum. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, vol. 36(3), 380-387. doi>
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2004. Aluminium in antipersperants:More than just skin deep. American Journal of Medicine. doi>
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2004. The solubility of an hydroxyaluminosilicate. Polyhedron. doi>
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2003. Measurement by Reversed-Phase Liquid Chromatography of Malondialdehyde in Normal Human Urine Following Derivatization with 2,40Dinitrophenylhydrazine. J Chromatogr B, 353-362.
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2002. The degradation of Abeta(25-35) by the serine protease plasmin is inhibited by aluminium. J Alzheimers Dis, vol. 4(5), 357-367. link>
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2002. Looking for equilibrium: the determination of an equilibrium constant to describe the formation of hydroxyaluminosilicates (HAS). GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA, vol. 66(15A), A683. link>
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2002. Role of magnetic iron oxides in beta-amyloid aggregation. Neurobiology in Ageing.
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2002. The reaction of aluminium with silicic acid in acidic solution: an important mechanism in controlling the biological availability of aluminium?. Coordination Chemistry Reviews. doi>
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2001. The formation of hydroxyaluminosilicates of geochemical and biological significance. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 65(15), 2461-2467. doi>
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2001. Promotion of formation of amyloid fibrils by aluminium adenosine triphosphate (A1ATP). Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. doi>
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2001. The molecular biology of prion propagation - Discussion. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, vol. 356(1406), 194-195. link>
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2001. Direct and indirect identifiction of the formation of hydroxyaluminosilicates in acidic solutions. Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 87(1-2), 71-79. doi>
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2001. Silicic acid (Si(OH)\d4\u) is a significant influence upon the atomic absorption signal of aluminium measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). vol. 87(1-2), 45-50. doi>
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1998. Does antiperspirant use increase the risk of aluminium-related disease, including Alzheimer's disease?. Mol Med Today, vol. 4(3), 107-109. link>
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1996. In vitro toxicity of beta-amyloid. BIOCHEMICAL JOURNAL, vol. 314, 709. link>
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1996. Amyloid, aluminium and the aetiology of Alzheimer's disease. MEDICAL JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIA, vol. 164(4), 252-253. link>
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1995. PROGRESS IN ALUMINUM TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY - 2-3 MARCH 1995. BIOMETALS, vol. 8(3), 271-272. link>
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1993. Aluminium and Alzheimer's Disease. Age and Ageing, vol. 22(5), 391-392. doi>
Chapters
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2008. Aluminium and Medicine. In Molecular and Supramolecular Bioinorganic Chemistry. Mercê ALR, Felcman J, Recio MAL (Eds.). Nova Biomedical.
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2007. The solubility of hydroxyaluminosilicates and the biological availability of aluminium. In Thermodynamics, solubility and environmental issues. Letcher TM (Ed.). Elsevier Science Ltd, Amsterdam.
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2005. The Aluminium-Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis and Alzheimer's Disease. In Alzheimer's disease. Harris JR and Fahrenholz F (Eds.). Springer Verlag.
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2001. The Association of Aluminium and $beta$ Amyloid in Alzheimer's Disease. In Aluminium and Alzheimer's Disease: The Science that Describes the Link. Exley C (Ed.). Elsevier Science B.V, Amsterdam.
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2001. Why is research into aluminium and life important?. In Aluminium and Alzheimer's Disease: The Science that Desribes the Link. Exley C (Ed.). Elsevier Science Ltd, Amsterdam.
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1997. Aluminium toxicokinetics. In Research issues in aluminum toxicity. Yokel RA and Golub MS (Eds.). Informa HealthCare.
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1997. Can the controversy of the role of aluminium in Alzheimer's disease be resolved. What are the suggested approaches to this controversy and methodological issues to be considered. In Research issues in aluminum toxicity. Yokel RA and Golub MS (Eds.). Informa HealthCare.
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1997. Speciation of aluminiumn in biological systems. In Research issues in aluminum toxicity. Yokel RA and Golub MS (Eds.). Informa HealthCare.
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1992. Silicon and the bioavailability of aluminium. In Metal compounds in environment and life, 4 (interrelation between chemistry and biology). Merian E and Haerdi W (Eds.). CRC Press.

