title: Fibrillogenesis of human β2 -microglobulin in three-dimensional silicon microstructures.
abstract: The authors describe the interaction of biological nanostructures formed by β(2) -microglobulin amyloid fibrils with three-dimensional silicon microstructures consisting in periodic arrays of vertical silicon walls (≈3 μm-thick) separated by 50 μm-deep air gaps (≈5 μm-wide). These structures are of great interest from a biological point of view since they well mimic the interstitial environment typical of amyloid deposition in vivo. Moreover, they behave as hybrid photonic crystals, potentially applicable as optical transducers for label-free detection of the kinetics of amyloid fibrils formation. Fluorescence and atomic force microscopy (AFM) show that a uniform distribution of amyloid fibrils is achieved when fibrillogenesis occurs directly on silicon. The high resolution AFM images also demonstrate that amyloid fibrils grown on silicon are characterized by the same fine structure typically ensured by fibrillogenesis in solution.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Elettronica, Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy. sabina.merlo@unipv.it
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Merlo
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barillaro
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carpignano
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Surdo
authors.forename: Lucanos M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Strambini
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giorgetti
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nichino
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Relini
authors.forename: Giuliano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazzini
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stoppini
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bellotti
mesh_terms: D000682:Amyloid / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D055616:Microtechnology / Q000379:methods*; D058105:Polymerization; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000682:Amyloid; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin; D012825:Silicon