title: Magnetite-Amyloid-β deteriorates activity and functional organization in an in vitro model for Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: The understanding of the key mechanisms behind human brain deterioration in Alzheimer' disease (AD) is a highly active field of research. The most widespread hypothesis considers a cascade of events initiated by amyloid-β peptide fibrils that ultimately lead to the formation of the lethal amyloid plaques. Recent studies have shown that other agents, in particular magnetite, can also play a pivotal role. To shed light on the action of magnetite and amyloid-β in the deterioration of neuronal circuits, we investigated their capacity to alter spontaneous activity patterns in cultured neuronal networks. Using a versatile experimental platform that allows the parallel monitoring of several cultures, the activity in controls was compared with the one in cultures dosed with magnetite, amyloid-β and magnetite-amyloid-β complex. A prominent degradation in spontaneous activity was observed solely when amyloid-β and magnetite acted together. Our work suggests that magnetite nanoparticles have a more prominent role in AD than previously thought, and may bring new insights in the understanding of the damaging action of magnetite-amyloid-β complex. Our experimental system also offers new interesting perspectives to explore key biochemical players in neurological disorders through a controlled, model system manner.
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teller
authors.affiliation: Nanobioengineering Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.|Departament d'Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.
authors.forename: Islam Bogachan
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Tahirbegi
authors.affiliation: Nanobioengineering Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.
authors.forename: Mònica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mir
authors.affiliation: Nanobioengineering Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.|Departament d'Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.|Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Samitier
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, E-08028, Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Soriano
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide / Q000633:toxicity*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide