Amyloid-beta peptide is the main component of amyloid plaques, which are found in Alzheimer's disease. The generation and deposition of amyloid-beta is one of the crucial factors for the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease. Lipid rafts are glycolipid-rich liquid domains of the plasma membrane, where certain types of protein tend to aggregate and intercalate. Lipid rafts are involved in the generation of amyloid-beta oligomers and the formation of amyloid-beta peptides. In this paper, we review the mechanism by which lipid rafts disturb the aberrant degradative autophagic-lysosomal pathway of amyloid-beta, which plays an important role in the pathological process of Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, we describe this mechanism from the view of the Two-system Theory of fasciology and thus, suggest that lipid rafts may be a new target of Alzheimer's disease treatment.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; National Financial Major Project of China; Two-system Theory; amyloid beta peptide; amyloid precursor protein; autophagosome; autophagy; lipid rafts; lysosome; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration.