Quantum dots and prion proteins: is this a new challenge for neurodegenerative diseases imaging?
A diagnostics of infectious diseases can be done by the immunologic methods or by the amplification of nucleic acid specific to contagious agent using polymerase chain reaction. However, in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, the infectious agent, prion protein (PrP(Sc)), has the same sequence of nucleic acids as a naturally occurring protein. The other issue with the diagnosing based on the PrP(Sc) detection is that the pathological form of prion protein is abundant only at late stages of the disease in a brain. Therefore, the diagnostics of prion protein caused diseases represent a sort of challenges as that hosts can incubate infectious prion proteins for many months or even years. Therefore, new in vivo assays for detection of prion proteins and for diagnosis of their relation to neurodegenerative diseases are summarized. Their applicability and future prospects in this field are discussed with particular aim at using quantum dots as fluorescent labels.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Faculty of Agronomy; Mendel University in Brno; Brno, Czech Republic EU; Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Pavlina
P
Sobrova
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Faculty of Agronomy; Mendel University in Brno; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Iva
I
Blazkova
Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Jana
J
Chomoucka
Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Jana
J
Drbohlavova
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Faculty of Agronomy; Mendel University in Brno; Brno, Czech Republic EU; Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Marketa
M
Vaculovicova
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Faculty of Agronomy; Mendel University in Brno; Brno, Czech Republic EU; Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Pavel
P
Kopel
Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Jaromir
J
Hubalek
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Faculty of Agronomy; Mendel University in Brno; Brno, Czech Republic EU; Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Rene
R
Kizek
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Faculty of Agronomy; Mendel University in Brno; Brno, Czech Republic EU; Central European Institute of Technology; Brno University of Technology; Brno, Czech Republic EU.
Vojtech
V
Adam
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D011328:Prions / Q000032:analysis*; D045663:Quantum Dots
D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D011328:Prions
imaging; label; neurodegenerative disease; prion protein; quantum dots