title: Ultra rapid in vivo screening for anti-Alzheimer anti-amyloid drugs.
abstract: More than 46 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease. A large number of potential treatments have been proposed; among these, the inhibition of the aggregation of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), considered one of the main culprits in Alzheimer's disease. Limitations in monitoring the aggregation of Aβ in cells and tissues restrict the screening of anti-amyloid drugs to in vitro studies in most cases. We have developed a simple but powerful method to track Aβ aggregation in vivo in real-time, using bacteria as in vivo amyloid reservoir. We use the specific amyloid dye Thioflavin-S (Th-S) to stain bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs), in this case mainly formed of Aβ in amyloid conformation. Th-S binding to amyloids leads to an increment of fluorescence that can be monitored. The quantification of the Th-S fluorescence along the time allows tracking Aβ aggregation and the effect of potential anti-aggregating agents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, and Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Espargaró
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, and Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Aina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (CSIC Associated Unit), School of Pharmacy, and Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ornella
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Di Pietro
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (CSIC Associated Unit), School of Pharmacy, and Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Torrero
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, and Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Raimon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sabate
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000737:chemistry; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides