Dynamics of plaque formation in Alzheimer's disease

Biophys J. 1999 Mar;76(3):1330-4. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(99)77295-4.

Abstract

Plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer patients are made of deposits of the amyloid-beta peptide. We analyze the time evolution of amyloid-beta deposition in immunostained brain slices from transgenic mice. We find that amyloid-beta deposits appear in clusters whose characteristic size increases from 14 microm in 8-month-old mice to 22 microm in 12-month-old mice. We show that the clustering has implications for the biological growth of amyloid-beta by presenting a growth model that accounts for the experimentally observed structure of individual deposits and predicts the formation of clusters of deposits and their time evolution.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / etiology*
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / genetics
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Biophysical Phenomena
  • Biophysics
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Kinetics
  • Macromolecular Substances
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Particle Size
  • Plaque, Amyloid / chemistry
  • Plaque, Amyloid / metabolism*
  • Plaque, Amyloid / pathology*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Macromolecular Substances