The Alzheimer Aβ Peptide : Identification of Properties Distinctive for Toxic Prefibrillar Species

Proteins must have specific conformations to function correctly inside cells. However, sometimes they adopt the wrong conformation, causing dysfunction and disease. A number of amyloid diseases are caused by misfolded proteins that form amyloid fibrils. One such disease is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The protein involved in this deadly disease is the amyloid β (Aβ) peptide. The formation of soluble prefibrillar oligomeric Aβ species has been recognized as an important factor in the development of AD. The aim of work described in this thesis was to investigate which properties of these oligomeric species can be linked to toxicity. We approached this task by comparing the aggregation behavior and biophysical properties of aggregates formed by variants of the Aβ peptide that have been shown to differ in neurotoxicity when expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) of Drosophila melanogaster. A combined set involving different fluorescent probes was used in parallell with transmission electron microscopy. The toxicity of species formed during the aggregation process was examined by exposing human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells to Aβ aggregates. We deduced that there is a correlation between cell toxicity and the propensity of the Aβ peptide to form small prefibrillar assemblies at an early stage of aggregation in vitro. Moreover, these prefibrillar species were characterized by their ability to be recognized by pentamer formyl thiophene acetic acid (p-FTAA) and the presence of exposed hydrophobic patches. We also found that larger aggregates did not induce cell death