In Alzheimer's patients, the protein amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulates in the brain to form so-called fibrils. This has fatal consequences for the surrounding nerve cells. It is suspected that immune cells condense the Aβ fibrils into plaques. The formation of these microscopically small structures could now be traced by infrared microscopy in human tissue. A research team from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the Vrije University Amsterdam (VU) has determined the developmental stages of the feared Aβ-fibrils being able to recapitulate the formation of the plaques. For their investigations, they used brain tissue from deceased volunteer donors, from which they made ultra-thin sections for the studies.

The scientists were able to show that plaques go through various stages during their development. One of these is particularly damaging, namely the oligomer stage. In this stage, the Aβ-fibrils are present in molecules of structurally identical or similar units. If the development of oligomers could be suppressed with drugs, the development of the dreaded plaques could ultimately be prevented, according to the approach.

Dominik Röhr et al. (2020): Label-free vibrational imaging of different Aβ plaque types in Alzheimer's disease reveals sequential events in plaque development. In: Acta Neuropathologica Communications, DOI: 10.1186/s40478-020-01091-5.

Source:
https://www.laborpraxis.vogel.de/entwicklung-von-alzheimer-plaques-aufgeklaert-a-988678/?cmp=nl-102&uuid=63E3C4F6-4639-461D-B148-07624636FB83