Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY
Volume 104, Issue 2, Pages 457-468Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2007.04972.x
Keywords
Alzheimer; amyloid; imaging; ligand; oligomer; small molecule
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Several small molecule ligands for amyloid-beta (A beta) fibrils deposited in brain have been developed to facilitate radiological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, the build-up of A beta oligomers (A beta O) in brain has been recognized as an additional hallmark of AD and may play a more significant role in early stages. Evidence suggests that quantitative assessment of A beta O would provide a more accurate index of therapeutic effect of drug trials. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop methods for efficient identification as well as structural analysis of A beta O. We found that some well established amyloid ligands, analogs of Congo red and thioflavin-T (ThT), bind A beta O with high affinity and detect A beta O in vitro and in vivo. Binding studies revealed the presence of binding sites for Congo red- and thioflavin-T-analogs on A beta O. Furthermore, these ligands can be used for imaging intracellular A beta O in living cells and animals and as positive contrast agent for ultrastructural imaging of A beta O, two applications useful for structural analysis of A beta O in cells. We propose that by improving the binding affinity of current ligands, in vivo imaging of A beta O is feasible by a 'signal subtraction' procedure. This approach may facilitate the identification of individuals with early AD.
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