Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the neurodegenerative diseases which is associated with cognitive, behavior and motoral impairments. The main symptom of this disease is dementia, which may cause difficulties in carrying out daily practices. According to multifactorial nature of the disease and its several causing factors, studies have raised the hypothesis that serum levels of some metals may be involved in causing of AD. One of these metals is aluminum. The aim of this study was to evaluate aluminum levels in Alzheimer patient's serum with severity of disease on one hand and comparing it in patients and healthy individuals on the other hand.

Materials & methods: In this study a group of patients with a definite diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease were assessed with Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) for severity of illness. The amount of aluminum in serum was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry in each patient and control groups. The relationship between the aluminum and the severity of disease was examined.

Findings: 50 patients (26 male / 24 female) and 50 healthy subjects (29 male / 21 female) were enrolled in the study. Serumic Aluminum levels in patients and controls were 37.17± 17ug/L and 23.38±30 ug/L respectively (p= 0.006). Also the serumic aluminum was significantly associated with severity of disease (r = 0.913 and p< 0.001).

Discussion & Conclusions: The study indicated that significant differences of the serumic Aluminum levels between Alzheimer's disease and normal subjects and Aluminum can be raised as a environmental factor in causing & severity of AD.