Metallic Molecules Light Up Alzheimer's Roots

Metallic molecules can highlight Alzheimer's roots when these roots naturally attach to a collection of beta amyloid proteins called fibrils, reveals study.

Metallic molecules can highlight Alzheimer's roots, when these roots naturally attach to a collection of beta amyloid proteins called fibrils, reveals study.

Fibrils form plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers, and when the molecules, complexes of dipyridophenazine ruthenium, latch onto amyloid fibrils, their photoluminescence increases 50-fold.

Alzheimer’s disease - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Stages, Types, Prevention, Prognosis & Treatment
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting memory and thinking and making the person increasingly dependent on others.

The discovery at Rice University could help researchers design better medications to treat the devastating disease, and also make finding signs of Alzheimer's disease nearly as simple as switching on a light.

Nathan Cook, a former Houston high school teacher and now a Rice graduate student and lead author of the new paper, began studying beta amyloids when he joined Rice bioengineer Angel Marti's lab.

Cook's goal was to find a way to dissolve amyloid fibrils in Alzheimer's patients.

Quiz On Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Participate in this quiz to find out how much you know about this debilitating disease.

But the research led him down a different path when he realized the ruthenium complexes, the subject of much study in Marti's group, had a distinctive ability to luminesce when combined in a solution with amyloid fibrils.

Ruthenium-based molecules added to the amyloid monomers do not fluoresce, Cook said.

Caring for Alzheimers disease patients
Alzheimer's disease is a complex brain disorder that triggers the most common form of dementia. The slide show will show how patients need support and care as dementia progresses.

But once the amyloids begin to aggregate into fibrils that resemble "microscopic strands of spaghetti," hydrophobic parts of the metal complex are naturally drawn to them.

"The microenvironment around the aggregated peptide changes and flips the switch that allows the metallic complexes to light up when excited by a spectroscope," he said.

Medicines Meant to Treat Alzheimers Found to be Good for Victims of Dementia
Cholinesterase inhibitors, that help victims of Alzheimer's disease can also assist in the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, a new study has shown.

The findings have been reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Source-ANI