Surface Plasmon Resonance Assay for Identification of Small Molecules Capable of Inhibiting Aβ Aggregation

Toxic aggregates of amyloid-beta (A beta) have importance in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease, and inhibition of aggregate formation is considered to be a promising strategy for drug development. Here, we report a simple and rapid surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay method that can identify potential A beta aggregation inhibitors. Our assay is based on the SPR shifting of the A beta-gold nanoparticle (A beta-GNP) aggregates by size under the influence of an A beta aggregation inhibitor. This user-friendly assay features a short assay time with a low reagent consumption that can be easily adapted as a high-throughput screen. We demonstrated that an effective A beta aggregation inhibitor induces the blue-shifted SPR peaks of the A beta-GNP aggregates by hindering the formation of long fibrillar aggregates. Moreover, the blue shifting was correlated to the efficacy and concentrations of an A beta aggregation inhibitor. Overall, our findings suggest that our simple SPR assay can be a powerful tool to screen small molecules targeting A beta aggregation.

Automated summary

The study introduced a simple and rapid surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay method for identifying potential A beta aggregation inhibitors, which can be a powerful tool for high-throughput screening.