Optical trapping for the characterization of amyloid-beta aggregation kinetics

Analyst. 2011 Oct 21;136(20):4164-7. doi: 10.1039/c1an15480j. Epub 2011 Aug 26.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by the accumulation of neuronal plaques from insoluble amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides. Growing evidence for the role of Aβ oligomers in neuronal cell cytotoxicity and pathogenesis has prompted the development of novel techniques to better understand the early stages of aggregation. Near infrared (NIR) optical trapping was applied to characterize the early stages of Aβ aggregation in the presence of a β-sheet intercalating dye, Congo Red (CR), as the fluorescent marker. The integration of fluorescence analysis with NIR optical trapping has provided a new outlook into the first two hours of Aβ aggregation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry*
  • Congo Red / chemistry
  • Electrochemical Techniques
  • Kinetics
  • Lasers
  • Optical Tweezers*
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry*
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Peptide Fragments
  • amyloid beta-protein (1-42)
  • Congo Red