Abundant A beta fibrils in ultracentrifugal supernatants of aqueous extracts from Alzheimer's disease brains

Soluble oligomers of amyloid beta-protein (A beta) have been defined as aggregates in supernatants following ultracentrifugation of aqueous extracts from Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains and are believed to be upstream initiators of synaptic dysfunction, but little is known about their structures. We now report the unexpected presence of A beta fibrils in synaptotoxic high-speed supernatants from AD brains extracted by soaking in an aqueous buffer. The fibrils did not appear to form during preparation, and their counts by EM correlated with A beta ELISA quantification. Cryo-EM structures of aqueous A beta fibrils were identical to those from sarkosyl-insoluble homogenates. The fibrils in aqueous extracts were labeled by lecanemab, an A beta aggregate-directed antibody reported to improve AD cognitive outcomes. Lecanemab provided protection against aqueous fibril synaptotoxicity. We conclude that fibrils are abundant in aqueous extracts from AD brains and have the same structures as those from plaques. These findings have implications for AD pathogenesis and drug design.

Automated summary

A study has found that Aβ fibrils are present in aqueous extracts from AD brains, indicating their pathological nature. This finding has important implications for understanding and treating AD.