title: Neuritic plaque amyloid in Alzheimer's disease is highly racemized.
abstract: Neuritic plaque core amyloid protein in Alzheimer's disease brain tissue was investigated for the extent of amino acid racemization. Long-lived human proteins exhibit racemization of certain amino acids over the course of a human lifetime. Purified core amyloid was found to contain relatively large proportions of D-aspartate and D-serine, suggesting that neuritic plaque amyloid is derived from a long-lived precursor protein. Alternatively, racemization of protein amino acids may be abnormally accelerated in Alzheimer's disease.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D000682:Amyloid / Q000032:analysis*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006868:Hydrolysis; D007536:Isomerism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D019998:Racemases and Epimerases / Q000378:metabolism; D012694:Serine / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D000682:Amyloid; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D011498:Protein Precursors; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D012694:Serine; D019998:Racemases and Epimerases