Methods for Analysis of Amyloid-β Aggregates

Amyloid-beta protein (A beta) accumulation is one of the major hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease and plays a crucial role in its pathogenesis. A beta aggregates into fibrils, but rather than these end-products of the aggregation process, intermediate species, referred to as oligomers, have been identified as the most neurotoxic A beta aggregates. To characterize the different A beta species and to study the aggregation process, a wide range of techniques has been applied over the past years. These techniques aim to visualize the different A beta species and study their structure, to separate them, and to quantify the aggregated A beta forms by immunology-based methods. In this review, we provide an overview and discussion of the most important techniques used for these aims. Often a combination of techniques will be appropriate to obtain the most optimal information.