title: Structure of beta-amyloid fibrils and its relevance to their neurotoxicity: implications for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy are characterized by the deposition of beta-amyloid fibrils consisting of 40- and 42-mer peptides (A beta 40 and A beta 42). Since the aggregation (fibrilization) of these peptides is closely related to the pathogenesis of these diseases, numerous structural analyses of A beta 40 and A beta 42 fibrils have been carried out. A beta 42 plays a more important role in the pathogenesis of these diseases since its aggregative ability and neurotoxicity are considerably greater than those of A beta 40. This review summarizes mainly our own recent findings from the structural analysis of A beta 42 fibrils and discusses its relevance to their neurotoxicity in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Division of Food Science and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan. irie@kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Irie
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohigashi
authors.forename: Ryutaro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: Kiyonori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takegoshi
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagao
authors.forename: Takahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Takuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirasawa
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D009498:Neurotoxins