Amyloidogenic peptides are well known for their involvement in diseases such as type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. However, more recently, amyloid fibrils have been shown to provide scaffolding and protection as functional materials in a range of organisms from bacteria to humans. These roles highlight the incredible tensile strength of the cross-β amyloid architecture. Many amino acid se...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder and the leading cause of senile dementia. The brains of AD patients show two major pathological hallmarks: amyloid or senile plaques (SPs) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). While NFTs are bundles of protein filaments found in the cytoplasm of neurons, SPs are extracellular aggregates of insoluble protein fibrils. The major component of ...

The amyloid-β lowering capacity of anti-Aβ antibodies has been demonstrated in transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in AD patients. While the mechanism of immunotherapeutic amyloid-β removal is controversial, antibody-mediated sequestration of peripheral Aβ versus microglial phagocytic activity and disassembly of cerebral amyloid (or a combination thereof) has been proposed. For su...

Autoantibody catalyzed hydrolysis of amyloid β peptide* Hiroaki Taguchi Stephanie Planque, Yasuhiro Nishiyama, Jindrich Symersky, Stephane Boivin, Paul Szabo, Robert P. Friedland, Paul A. Ramsland, Allen B. Edmundson, Marc E. Weksler, Sudhir Paul Chemical Immunology Research Center, Univ of Texas Houston Medical School, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New Yo...

Soluble oligomers of the amyloid-β peptide have been implicated as proximal neurotoxins in Alzheimer's disease. However, the identity of the neurotoxic aggregate(s) and the mechanisms by which these species induce neuronal dysfunction remain uncertain. Physiologically relevant experimentation is hindered by the low endogenous concentrations of the peptide, the metastability of Aβ oligomers, and...

A strategy is presented that exploits the ability of synthetic polymers of different nature to disturb the strong self-assembly capabilities of amyloid based β-sheet forming peptides. Following a convergent approach, the peptides of interest were synthesized via solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and the polymers via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, foll...

Understanding the structure of polyglutamine (polyQ) amyloid-like fibril aggregates is crucial to gaining insights into the etiology of at least ten neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington's disease. Here, we determine the structure of D2Q10K2 (Q10) fibrils using ultraviolet resonance Raman (UVRR) spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD). Using UVRR, we determine the fibril peptide ba...

Objective(s): Neuroprotective effect of creatine (Cr) against β-amyloid (Aβ) is reported in an in vitro study. This study investigated the effect of Cr supplementation on β-amyloid toxicity in vivo. Materials and Methods: Thirty two, male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. During ten weeks of study, control group went through no surgical or dietary intervention. At the 4th week of study S...