VACCINE

Journal Of Inorganic Biochemistry • September 2003
A biogeochemical cycle for aluminium?
Author information
Exley C1.
Birchall Centre for Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science
Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK
c.exley@chem.keele.ac.uk
Abstract
The elaboration of biogeochemical cycles for elements which are known
to be essential for life has enabled a broad appreciation of the homeostatic
mechanisms which underlie element essentiality. In particular
they can be used effectively to identify any part played by human activities
in element cycling and to predict how such activities might impact
upon the lithospheric and biospheric availability of an element in the
future. The same criteria were the driving force behind the construction
of a biogeochemical cycle for aluminium, a non-essential element
which is a known ecotoxicant and a suspected health risk in humans.
The purpose of this exercise was to examine the concept of a biogeochemical
cycle for aluminium and not to review the biogeochemistry
of this element. The cycle as presented is rudimentary and qualitative
though, even in this nascent form, it is informative and predictive and,
for these reasons alone, it is deserving of future quantification. A fully
fledged biogeochemical cycle for aluminium should explain the biospheric
abundance of this element and whether we should expect its
(continued) active involvement in biochemical evolution.
“a non-essential element
which is a known ecotoxicant and a
suspected health risk in humans.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14507454