Heparin-induced tau filaments are structurally heterogeneous and differ from Alzheimer's disease filaments

Chem Commun (Camb). 2018 May 1;54(36):4573-4576. doi: 10.1039/c8cc01355a.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the presence of tau filaments in the brain whose structure was recently solved. The formation of AD filaments is routinely modeled in vitro by mixing tau with heparin. This study shows that heparin-induced tau filaments are markedly different from the AD filaments and are highly heterogeneous.

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amyloid / chemistry
  • Amyloid / metabolism
  • Heparin / chemistry
  • Heparin / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Membrane Proteins / chemistry
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
  • Molecular Structure
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism*
  • Protein Aggregation, Pathological / metabolism
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Multimerization / drug effects*
  • Protein Structure, Quaternary / drug effects
  • Pyrrolidines / chemistry
  • Spin Labels
  • Thiosulfonic Acids / chemistry

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Pyrrolidines
  • Spin Labels
  • Thiosulfonic Acids
  • tau 40 protein, human
  • Heparin