Structure-neurotoxicity relationships of amyloid beta-protein oligomers.

ABSTRACT: Amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) oligomers may be the proximate neurotoxins in Alzheimer's disease (AD). "Oligomer" is an ill-defined term because many kinds have been reported and they often exist in rapid equilibrium with monomers and higher-order assemblies. We report here results of studies in which specific oligomers have been stabilized structurally, fractionated in pure form, and then studied by using a combination of CD spectroscopy, Thioflavin T fluorescence, EM, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and neurotoxicity assays. Abeta monomers were largely unstructured, but oligomers exhibited order-dependent increases in beta-sheet content. EM and AFM data suggest that dimerization and subsequent monomer addition are processes in which significant and asymmetric monomer conformational changes

SUBMITTER: Ono K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2736424 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature