Aluminium toxicity: its relationship with bone and iron metabolism.

Chronic renal failure leads to secondary hyperparathyroidism; the spontaneous evolution of this entity results in high bone remodelling. However, throughout the last decades we have learnt that several medical interventions, particularly those which involve a high degree of aluminium exposure, may change the evolution of secondary hyperparathyroidism, leading to other diseases such as aluminium-induced osteomalacia and aluminium-induced adynamic bone disease, both characterized by low-bone remodelling [1-6]. In addition to these two well-known effects of aluminium in bone, aluminium may also induce alterations in iron metabolism [7-10]. This review will focus on the mechanisms of aluminium toxicity in bone metabolism and also the interference of aluminium in erythropoiesis.