Individual aggregates of amyloid beta induce temporary calcium influx through the cell membrane of neuronal cells.

Local delivery of amyloid beta oligomers from the tip of a nanopipette, controlled over the cell surface, has been used to deliver physiological picomolar oligomer concentrations to primary astrocytes or neurons. Calcium influx was observed when as few as 2000 oligomers were delivered to the cell surface. When the dosing of oligomers was stopped the intracellular calcium returned to basal levels or below.

Quantitative analysis of co-oligomer formation by amyloid-beta peptide isoforms.

Multiple isoforms of aggregation-prone proteins are present under physiological conditions and have the propensity to assemble into co-oligomers with different properties from self-oligomers, but this process has not been quantitatively studied to date. We have investigated the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, associated with Alzheimer's disease, and the aggregation of its two major isoforms, Aβ40 and Aβ42, using a statistical mechanical modelling approach in combination with in vitro single-molecule fluorescence measurements. We find that at low concentrations of Aβ, corresponding to its physiological abundance, there is little free energy penalty in forming co-oligomers, suggesting that the formation of both self-oligomers and co-oligomers is possible under these conditions.