WASHINGTON: Research groups at TIFR, Mumbai, IISc, Bangalore and the University of Toronto working together, may have gotten the closest yet to figuring out how the toxic form of the Alzheimer’s molecule looks. This brings with it implications of development of better drugs to treat patients.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive form of dementia that is characterised by loss of short-term memory, deterioration in behaviour and intellectual performance, besides slowness of thought. It may occur in middle age or in old age, and while a lot of research is on for drug treatments, none has been successful.
While it is widely accepted that a specific form of the Amyloid beta molecule is a major player in causing Alzheimer’s, the shape and form of this remained elusive, experts say. The excitement now is that scientists have caught a glimpse of the molecule during its attempt to enter a cell membrane, using a new method involving laser light and fat-coated silver nanoparticles.
“It is a rare protein and is difficult to probe. It was slightly fortuitous that we found it, using a modified version of Raman Spectroscopy. Usually the signal from this is weak, but we mimicked the cell’s outer layer by encasing silver nanoparticles in a fat membrane,” says Sudipta Maiti, of TIFR, who co-directed the research with P.K. Madhu. The Amyloid beta molecules were fooled into piercing this ‘membrane’ and the nanoparticles enhanced the signals, allowing scientists to see it at that point.
When proteins aggregate, or gang up to form a structure, they shift shapes. “At some stage of ganging up they suddenly start attacking the cell membrane and that’s where toxicity begins. How they enter the membrane, and what they look like when entering the membrane is key,” he says.
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